Shattercones

The London-based Shattercones’ delicious recipe includes an old slide guitar, a viola with some radical loops, a driving drum machine, some pompous tom-toms, an analog synth, guitars, and vocals you’d expect to hear reverberating throughout the underground scene of Berlin circa 2009.

As one walks through the valley of death, and there meets the devil, a bell will toll, and one will remember the haunting vibrations of a sound he forgot long ago.

Indeed, I’m talking of Shattercone’s “Oppenheimer” from the new Oppenheimer EP. The track is the band’s debut video release.

“Oppenheimer” is a song that is brimming with gritty cinematic landscapes, claustrophobic rooms of darkness, and nostalgic images bursting with ultraviolence, regret, and heartbreaking loss… Now here, give it a listen all you filthy animals.

The symmetrical vibrations of Shattercones’ latest track is a sacrilegious homage to the gods of the underground. What was once considered sacred, is nothing more now than a worthless tune, few are able to remember.

As we walk deeper into the darkness of the unknown in search of beauty, may we always remember the melody so many of us forgot long ago.

Now, back to the music. Yes, the psychedelic project has also played the O2 Kentish Town Forum, 1865 Southampton, and SWX Bristol in the past, pre-COVID-19. Oh, how we lament the golden glow of past ages.

The British project draws from the same waters as Suicide, Dirty Three, and John Coltrane.

The underground ensemble brings a uniquely fresh and occasionally unhinged feeling in the deepest and darkest rooms of our being, that feeling that will keep you on the edge of your seat until that final note is uttered.

Listen to Shattercones’ new EP, here. And be sure to give the band a follow on Spotify! We cannot wait to hear what they have in store for us in the near dystopian future that seems to be playing out. Hold on tight, because it’s going to be a wild ride.

Norman Lake

Norman Lake brings to us a hopeless slow-burner from the sandy shores of Southern California. The track is reminiscent of an arid emotion stripped of semblance and woven together with an introspective narrative that we can all relate to at one time or another.

Every line of this haunting track seems as if it was pulled like a needle from the corpse of a dead porcupine.

The lyrics talk about the hardship of change. An evolutionary concept we all struggle with. And brings to light the transcendental truth we all seem to have a difficult time perceiving.

Norman Lake’s “Mother Mary” is about being afraid of the unknown. Yet each line brings to light a hopeless cry, and even when salvation descends upon us, we declare that we are still afraid.

Only a 4 track tape cassette and all analog gear were utilized in the recording.

The unbridled and raw sonic texture culminate in a tumultuous and warm emotion that seems to ripple through the body of the listener. And as we move through the rhythmic construct of reality, a funny thought penetrates the minds of those who peer into the darkness.

They see that they are like dust in the wind. Nothing but a fading star set amongst an expanding, and never-ending galaxy. Nothing more than a speck of dust suspended in a light beam.

“I hope this song brings company to those sitting with feelings that seem too insurmountable to conquer.” – Norman Lake

Beipana

beipana’s new midnight project (entitled “Late Night Fog”) is a low fidelity masterpiece from the manic depths of the lucid state of subconscious bliss.

The steel guitar consumes the mind of the listener as it sways to and fro – just as the organ endlessly slumbers into catatonic convulsions of primitive ecstasy.

And as the human awakes from his long slumber, the apeman will once again remember a thing he forgot long ago. Something that he’ll never again forget to forget – until he forgets it again…

Indeed, beipana’s latest track “Late Night Fog” sounds like something Ry Cooder would have dreamt up in the middle of an existential vision – under the desolate wasteland of the arid desert moon.

In short, “Late Night Fog” is a minimalistic, yet laidback work of art fit for a peaceful springtime night in the midst of a pandemic that has brought the global system to its knees.

May this track bring you some much-needed comfort as the bacterial wave makes its way across the globe…

Novelty Island

Novelty Island is the imaginative mind child of Tom McConnell – an avant-garde artist who was raised between Liverpool and Newcastle – but is now based out of London

Novelty Island’s sound is a mythical conglomeration of traditional songwriting, classic psychedelia, experimental electronica of a warped nature, and psychedelic surrealism.

“…Beyond the tranquil nature of Magdapio Falls, where the Saturn Alarms ring out through the night, there is a much mythicized location. A location so dangerous, so remote, so beyond comprehension – with an image so tarnished that each generation fears it more than the last…” – Tom McConnell

Tom’s new EP, “Welcome To Novelty Island” features the catatonic yet always eclectic Magdapio Falls, Saturn Alarms and Windows.

The live incarnation of Novelty Island also includes Tom’s other-half Frankie Tibbles on keys, David Dargahi on guitar and Harry Carter on the percussion end. 

Tom also creates radical visuals for the never-ending Instagram feed – instagram.com/_noveltyisland