Sacred Bones Vinyl, CD & Tape 194 Items

Sacred Bones celebrates its 15th year label anniversary with this blue and purple galaxy vinyl repress of the haunting and monolithic May Our Chambers Be Full. "The juxtaposition of Rundle's long distance melodies and Bryan Funck of Thou dredging up his guts to scream into the sky shows two sides working together to create something surprising and new." - The Fader // "The whole LP would be a great release for either artist, but it's the brilliant convergence of sensibilities that sets it apart in the landscape of alternative metal... an excellent entry point for any would-be Thou fans, and a potential game-changer for Rundle ones." - Loud & Quiet

Red Splatter On Green Vinyl! limited to 2500 copies! The Dead Don't Die is writer/director Jim Jarmusch's unique, semi-comic take on the zombie apocalypse genre. As with his recent efforts Only Lovers Left Alive and Paterson, the film's score was composed and performed by SQÜRL, the band Jarmusch and producer Carter Logan founded in 2009. Sacred Bones Records, the same label that released the band's EP #260 in 2017, is releasing the LP edition of the score.The score to the The Dead Don't Die is a true expression of where SQÜRL stand at the center of a decade of sonic exploration. It is the culmination of their passion for analog synths, with guitar violence reverberating from the darker corners of Americana. It is at once a tribute to the classic sounds of horror and sci-fi, as well as a decapitation of traditional film scores. It is naturally supernatural.From their arsenal of tools, Jarmusch and Logan pulled electric guitars and basses made by Rick Kelly and Cindy Hulej at Carmine Street Guitars, an acoustic resonator, Moog Minitaur and Theremini synthesizers, Fender Rhodes electric piano, an old Ludwig drum kit, cheap vintage Casio and Yamaha keyboards and new synths from Critter and Guitari _ all sculpted through a collection of effects pedals, notably from Earthquaker Devices.The inspiration for SQÜRL's score for The Dead Don't Die came from some of the most iconic soundtracks of the past half-century of genre cinema _ Tangerine Dream's Sorcerer, Bebe and Louis Barron's Forbidden Planet, Ennio Morricone's The Thing and Once Upon a Time in the West, Goblin's Dawn of the Dead, and all things John Carpenter. The singular Theremin work of Samuel J. Hoffman on films like Spellbound and The Day the Earth Stood Still also made its way into Jarmusch and Logan's consciousness. The result is a new horror soundtrack that stands shoulder to shoulder with the great works of its genre.

ged as a
figurehead-- a self-produced, self-designed, self-taught independent woman. Zola Jesus
is not a singer; she is a musician. Zola Jesus is not a band; it is a solo project. That is
not to say the people who have helped her along the way were not deeply important.
Her irreplaceable live band, whose drummer Nick Johnson lends a hand on several
tracks here, and her friend Brian Foote who co-produced this album in addition to the
live string players (Sean McCann, Ryan York) who contribute here were all crucial in
the process. Nika, however, is a woman who can command a room, any room,
without needing a band, a stage, or even a microphone. Her voice is unmistakable; it
cuts right to the core. Conatus is a huge leap forward in production, instrumentation
and song structure. It says it all in the definition of the title: the will to keep on, to
move forward. From thumping ballads to electronic glitch, no sound goes unexplored
on her new record. It is an icy exploration in refined chaos and controlled madness,
an effort to break through capability and access a sonic world that crumbles as it
shines.

Sensing that defenses to their contagion were down, Things Viral (2003) withdrew from any familiar or friendly shapes. On their second offering, the band decelerated to its own tempo, freezing the decay of the debut in a shocking and powerful stasis. Pitchfork lauds, "Khanate have that skill for unfolding an action in such excruciating detail that you're slowly edged off your seat_ Things Viral is extreme enough to appeal to people who don't have any interest in metal; the members cross metal pedigrees with noise-drone-art-damage bands-- from Burning Witch and Old, to Sunn 0))), to Blind Idiot God's Tim Wyskida on drums. It's committed but not overbearing, too resolute and unyielding to resist; it'll grab your skull and hold you achingly still as it thrashes through the depths, then totally, quietly wears itself out."

While the previous Amen Dunes records had all been largely improvisational first-take affairs, recorded in a matter of weeks at most, the forthcoming full-length, Love, is the product of close to a year and a half of continuous work. Damon McMahon (aka Amen Dunes) chose to hold the main recording sessions in Montreal with Dave Bryant and Efrim Menuck of Godspeed You! Black Emperor. In addition to recording the sessions that McMahon produced, members of Godspeed also played on several of the songs, along with Colin Stetson on saxophone and Elias Bender-Ronnenfelt of Iceage, who duets with McMahon on two tracks. The result is definitively the most substantial Amen Dunes record to date. These are elemental songs about time, love and memory, as much about the listener as they are about the writer: pure, open, and beautiful.

The horror master John Carpenter is back with his Halloween franchise collaborators Daniel Davies and Cody Carpenter for their infectious new soundtrack to the 2022 adaptation of Stephen King's Firestarter. This marks the first official soundtrack that the team has composed together outside of the Halloween franchise and their inspiration and evolution as a creative team is on full display. The film is a new take on the thriller examining a girl with extraordinary pyrokinetic powers and her fight to protect her family and herself from sinister forces that seek to capture and control her. The film releases theatrically on May 13th, 2022 and stars Zac Efron, Sydney Lemmon, Ryan Kiera, is directed by Keith Thomas (The Vigil) and created by the producers of The Invisible Man. The story has become a classic and the intense nature of the film creates a canvas for a dynamic soundtrack. The Firestarter soundtrack utilizes some of the best elements of Carpenter's famous musical repertoire and charts exciting new territory. The tracks range from fist pumping sci-fi anthems to slow reverb drenched piano ballads and each utilizes a variety of sonic applications. Skulking beats, skittering synths, crushing guitars and an ever-lurking echo come together to create an album that is atmospheric and also deeply melodic, cohesive and eclectic. These three musicians are all working in the peak of their individual and collaborative creativity and this soundtrack further solidifies them as masters of the craft.

Offering a cosmic glimpse into the hidden patterning embedded in everything, Occult Architecture reflects the harmonious duality of these light and dark energies through the Chinese theory of Yin and Yang. Following the Yin (feminine, darkness, night, earth) represented on Occult Architecture Vol. 1, Vol. 2 presents the Yang. Yang means "the bright side of the hill" and is associated with the male, sun, light and the spirit of heaven, and as such Vol. 2 explores the light and airy elements of Moon Duo's complex psyche. "In production we referred to Vol. 1 as the fuzz dungeon, and Vol. 2 as the crystal palace," guitarist Ripley Johnson explains. "The darkness of Vol. 1 gave birth to the light of Vol. 2. We had to have both elements in order to complete the cycle. We're releasing them separately to allow them their own space, and to ensure clarity of vision. To that end we also mixed Vol. 2 separately, in the height of Portland summer, focusing on its sonic qualities of lightness, air, and sun. Listeners can ultimately use the two volumes individually or together, depending on circumstance or the desired effect."

Much Has Changed In The Musical Life Of Renowned Composer And Director John Carpenter Since 2016's Lost Themes Ii. Following The Release Of That Album, He Went On His First-Ever Concert Tour, Performing Material From The Lost Themes Albums, As Well As Music From His Classic Film Scores. He Re-Recorded Many Of Those Classic Movie Themes For 2017's Anthology Album, Working Alongside Son Cody Carpenter And Godson Daniel Davies. The Following Year, He Was Asked To Executive Produce And Compose The Music For The New Halloween Movie Directed By David Gordon Green, Which Promptly Became The Highest-Grossing Installment In The Series. Now, He Returns With His First Album Of Non-Soundtrack Music In Nearly Five Years, Lost Themes Iii: Alive After Death.Underpinning Carpenter's Renaissance As A Musician Has Been His Collaboration With Cody Carpenter And Daniel Davies. They've Composed And Performed As A Trio Throughout This Entire Run, On Studio Albums, On Soundtracks, And Onstage. Here, The Trio Reaches A New Level Of Creative Mind Meld. Richly Rendered Worlds Are Built In The Interplay Between Davies's Guitar And The Dueling Synthesizers Played By The Carpenters."We Begin With A Theme, A Bass Line, A Pad, Something That Sounds Good And Will Lead Us To The Next Layer," John Says Of The Trio's Process. "We Then Just Keep Adding On From There. We Understand Each Other's Strengths And Weaknesses, How To Communicate Without Words, And The Process Is Easier Now Than It Was In The Beginning. We've Matured."Whereas The Original Lost Themes Album Came As A Pleasant Surprise After Years Of Relative Silence From Carpenter, The Third Installment Sees Him In The Midst Of A Resurgent Moment As A Cultural Force. The 2018 Halloween Score Gave His Music Its Biggest Audience In Decades, And The World He Releases His New Album Into Is One That Has, At Long Last, Given Him The Credit He Deserves As A Founding Father Of Modern Electronic Music.

It's been a decade since John Carpenter recorded the material that would become Lost Themes, his debut album of non-film music and the opening salvo in one of Hollywood's great second acts. Those vibrant, synth-driven songs, made in collaboration with his son Cody Carpenter and godson Daniel Davies, kickstarted a musical renaissance for the pioneering composer and director. In the years since, Carpenter, Carpenter, and Davies have released close to a dozen musical projects, including a growing library of studio albums and the scores for David Gordon Green's trilogy of Halloween reboots. With Lost Themes IV: Noir, they've struck gold again, this time mining the rich history of the film noir genre for inspiration.Since the first Lost Themes, John has referred to these compositions as "soundtracks for the movies in your mind." On the fourth installment in theseries, those movies are noirs. Like the film genre they were influenced by, what makes these songs "noirish" is sometimes slippery and hard to define, and not merely reducible to a collection of tropes. The scores for the great American noir pictures were largely orchestral, while the Carpenters and Davies work off a sturdy synth-and-guitar backbone. The noir quality, then, is something you understand instinctively when you hear it, as in connected in an emotional way.The trio's free-flowing chemistry means Lost Themes IV: Noir runs like a well-oiled machine_the 1951 Jaguar XK120 Roadster from Kiss Me Deadly, perhaps, or the 1958 Plymouth Fury from John's own Christine. It's a chemistry that's helped power one of the most productive stretches of John's creative life, and Noir proves that it's nowhere near done yielding brilliant results.

Deluxe edition available on limited tan and black marble vinyl, includes clear 7" with exclusive bonus track "Black Cathedral" and screen printed B-Side.It's been a decade since John Carpenter recorded the material that would become Lost Themes, his debut album of non-film music and the opening salvo in one of Hollywood's great second acts. Those vibrant, synth-driven songs, made in collaboration with his son Cody Carpenter and godson Daniel Davies, kickstarted a musical renaissance for the pioneering composer and director. In the years since, Carpenter, Carpenter, and Davies have released close to a dozen musical projects, including a growing library of studio albums and the scores for David Gordon Green's trilogy of Halloween reboots. With Lost Themes IV: Noir, they've struck gold again, this time mining the rich history of the film noir genre for inspiration.Since the first Lost Themes, John has referred to these compositions as "soundtracks for the movies in your mind." On the fourth installment in theseries, those movies are noirs. Like the film genre they were influenced by, what makes these songs "noirish" is sometimes slippery and hard to define, and not merely reducible to a collection of tropes. The scores for the great American noir pictures were largely orchestral, while the Carpenters and Davies work off a sturdy synth-and-guitar backbone. The noir quality, then, is something you understand instinctively when you hear it, as in connected in an emotional way.The trio's free-flowing chemistry means Lost Themes IV: Noir runs like a well-oiled machine_the 1951 Jaguar XK120 Roadster from Kiss Me Deadly, perhaps, or the 1958 Plymouth Fury from John's own Christine. It's a chemistry that's helped power one of the most productive stretches of John's creative life, and Noir proves that it's nowhere near done yielding brilliant results.

Red Vinyl.It's been a decade since John Carpenter recorded the material that would become Lost Themes, his debut album of non-film music and the opening salvo in one of Hollywood's great second acts. Those vibrant, synth-driven songs, made in collaboration with his son Cody Carpenter and godson Daniel Davies, kickstarted a musical renaissance for the pioneering composer and director. In the years since, Carpenter, Carpenter, and Davies have released close to a dozen musical projects, including a growing library of studio albums and the scores for David Gordon Green's trilogy of Halloween reboots. With Lost Themes IV: Noir, they've struck gold again, this time mining the rich history of the film noir genre for inspiration.Since the first Lost Themes, John has referred to these compositions as "soundtracks for the movies in your mind." On the fourth installment in theseries, those movies are noirs. Like the film genre they were influenced by, what makes these songs "noirish" is sometimes slippery and hard to define, and not merely reducible to a collection of tropes. The scores for the great American noir pictures were largely orchestral, while the Carpenters and Davies work off a sturdy synth-and-guitar backbone. The noir quality, then, is something you understand instinctively when you hear it, as in connected in an emotional way.The trio's free-flowing chemistry means Lost Themes IV: Noir runs like a well-oiled machine_the 1951 Jaguar XK120 Roadster from Kiss Me Deadly, perhaps, or the 1958 Plymouth Fury from John's own Christine. It's a chemistry that's helped power one of the most productive stretches of John's creative life, and Noir proves that it's nowhere near done yielding brilliant results.

It's been a decade since John Carpenter recorded the material that would become Lost Themes, his debut album of non-film music and the opening salvo in one of Hollywood's great second acts. Those vibrant, synth-driven songs, made in collaboration with his son Cody Carpenter and godson Daniel Davies, kickstarted a musical renaissance for the pioneering composer and director. In the years since, Carpenter, Carpenter, and Davies have released close to a dozen musical projects, including a growing library of studio albums and the scores for David Gordon Green's trilogy of Halloween reboots. With Lost Themes IV: Noir, they've struck gold again, this time mining the rich history of the film noir genre for inspiration.Since the first Lost Themes, John has referred to these compositions as "soundtracks for the movies in your mind." On the fourth installment in theseries, those movies are noirs. Like the film genre they were influenced by, what makes these songs "noirish" is sometimes slippery and hard to define, and not merely reducible to a collection of tropes. The scores for the great American noir pictures were largely orchestral, while the Carpenters and Davies work off a sturdy synth-and-guitar backbone. The noir quality, then, is something you understand instinctively when you hear it, as in connected in an emotional way.The trio's free-flowing chemistry means Lost Themes IV: Noir runs like a well-oiled machine_the 1951 Jaguar XK120 Roadster from Kiss Me Deadly, perhaps, or the 1958 Plymouth Fury from John's own Christine. It's a chemistry that's helped power one of the most productive stretches of John's creative life, and Noir proves that it's nowhere near done yielding brilliant results.

When S Krysh Nashikh Domov The Debut Album By Molchat Doma, Was Released In 2017, It Announced A Bold New Voice In Underground Music. The Album Found A Passionate Audience On Bandcamp And Other Streaming Services And Was Released On Cd And Cassette. Sacred Bones Records Is Proud To Present The Album On Vinyl For The First Time. Molchat Doma (Translated As "Houses Are Silent"), Founded In 2017 In Minsk, Belarus, Stands At The Intersection Of Post-Punk, New-Wave And Synth-Pop. Dark Yet Danceable, And With A Heavy Dose Of Goth Ethos, Their Music Is Reminiscent Of The Masters That Predate Them, But Make No Mistake: Molchat Doma Creates A Sound And Meaning That Is Immediately Recognizable As All Their Own. The Band Is Comprised Of Egor Shkutko, Who Sings The Russian Lyrics In His Deep Monotone, Roman Komogortsev On Guitar, Synths, And Drum Machine, And Pavel Kozlov On Bass And Synths.Riyl: Depeche Mode, New Order, Drab Majesty, Black Marble

Since Nika Roza Danilova has been recording music as Zola Jesus she's been on Sacred Bones Records for most of that time, and Okovi marked her reunion with the label. Fittingly, the 11 electronics-driven songs on Okovi share musical DNA with her early work on Sacred Bones. The music was written in pure catharsis, and as a result, the sonics are heavy, dark, and exploratory. With Okovi, Zola Jesus has crafted a profound meditation on loss and reconciliation that stands tall alongside the major works of its genre. The album peaks of tragedy with great wisdom and clarity. Its songs plumb dark depths, but they reflect light as well.

If you purchased a snake plant, asparagus fern, peace lily, or what have you fromMother Earth on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles (or bought a Simmons mattressfrom Sears) in 1976, you also took home Plantasia, an album recorded especiallyfor plants. Subtitled "warm earth music for plants_and the people that lovethem," it was full of bucolic, charming, stoner-friendly, decidedly unscientifictunes enacted on the new-fangled device called the Moog.Before Brian Eno did it, Mort Garson was making discreet music. Julliardeducated and active as a session player in the post-war era, Garson wrote loungehits, scored the 1969 moon-landing and plush arrangements for Doris Day, andgarlanded weeping countrypolitan strings around Glen Campbell's "By theTime I Get to Phoenix."But as his daughter Day Darmet recalls: "When my dad found the synthesizer, herealized he didn't want to do pop music anymore." Garson encountered RobertMoog and his new device at the Audio Engineering Society's West Coast convention in 1967 and immediately began tinkering with the device."My mom had a lot of plants," Darmet says. "She didn't believe in organizedreligion, she believed the earth was the best thing in the whole world. Whatevercreated us was incredible." And she also knew when her husband had a good song.Novel as it might seem, Plantasia is simply full of good tunes.This release marks the first official re-issue of the long sought-after cult classic.Hearing Plantasia in the 21st century, it seems less an ode to our photosynthesizing friends by Garson and more an homage to his wife, the one with the greenthumb that made everything flower around him. "My dad would be totallypleased to know that people are really interested in this music that had nopopularity at the time," Darmet says of Plantasia's new renaissance. "He would befascinated by the fact that people are finally understanding and appreciating thispart of his musical career that he got no admiration for back then." Garson seemsto be every...

Thou have a bit of a reputation for doing Nirvana covers, even releasing of a full album of them titled Blessings of the Highest Order during the height of quarantine. The infamously ravenous Thou fans were stuck in their rooms, drinking every drop and begging for more and just their luck the band decided to release a full-length compilation of their non-Nirvana covers they recorded and released from 2009-2022. All of the songs on A Primer of Holy Words appeared on limited pressings of various split EPs and benefit compilations. The range of bands being covered is wide: Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains from abandoned tribute projects; Born Against from a small press European compilation; Ginger Quail, an obscure New Orleans punk band from the late 90s; and so on. Regardless of their standing in the civilian world, all of these bands and songs have had a strong imprint on Thou - much more so than "sludge" or metal in general or "the swamp" of New Orleans. New Noise Magazine described some of the tracks saying "They've got a Black Sabbath `Sweet Leaf' cover that they've dirtied up to the point where it sounds like a High on Fire original, a blackend-sludge version of Born Against's `Well Fed Fuck,' a bewitched version of Pearl Jam's `Spin the Black Circle,' and an appropriately gross and desperate cover of Shellac's `Prayer to God.' It's as good or better than their Nirvana album imho." And while the mentioned tracks will be on the vinyl version sans "Sweet Leaf" it will have a different track list from 2020's digital release including a cover of the Yeah Yeah Yeah's iconic track "Maps". This collection includes artwork from former New Orleans -now Mexico City artist Rachel Speck from her Tropical Goth imprint.

Sacred Bones repress of Amen Dunes' critically acclaimed breakthrough record Freedom in celebration of the label's 15th year anniversary. On the surface, Freedom is a reflection on growing up, childhood friends who ended up in prison or worse, male identity, McMahon's father, and his mother, who was diagnosed with terminal cancer at the beginning of recording. The characters that populate the musical world of Freedom are a colorful mix of reality and fantasy: father and mother, Amen Dunes, teenage glue addicts and Parisian drug dealers, ghosts above the plains, fallen surf heroes, vampires, thugs from Naples and thugs from Houston, the emperor of Rome, Jews, Jesus, Tashtego, Perseus, even McMahon himself. Each character portrait is a representation of McMahon, of masculinity, and of his past. Yet, if anything, these 11 songs are a relinquishing of all of them through exposition; a gradual reorientation of being away from the acquired definitions of self we all cling to. The music, as a response or even a solution to the album's darker themes, is tough and joyous, rhythmic and danceable; a true NYC street record. "The fifth album from Damon McMahon is his euphoric breakthrough. Everything feels silvery and romantic, like a hallucination of the classic-rock songbook." - Pitchfork [best NEW Music] "Freedom is a star-making album dressed in humility ...It's classic rock through the lens of isolation, feverish and untamed, and pulsing with danger." - Uproxx, "The 50 Best Albums of 2018 So Far" "Freedom rings as both immediate and timeless, intensely personal and easily understood." - Spin, Spin Essential

Këkht Aräkh is the Ukrainian project founded in 2018 by Dmitry Marchenko. The debut album Night & Love was initially released on the Finnish label Livor Mortis in 2019 and it's now seeing a worldwide reissue via Brooklyn label Sacred Bones. Dmitry's intent to experiment with standard black metal canons previously seen at play in Through the Branches to Eternity EP (2018) solidify further on Night & Love, he mentions "back then I had an idea of combining Darkthrone's Transilvanian Hunger type of black metal with early Internazionale or Croatian Amor vibe." Described as ambient or atmospheric black metal, this debut presents Këkht Aräkh's signature dichotomy of harsh traditional early Norwegian black metal and the more ethereal and delicate melodies. On the other hand the lyrics are romantic and melancholic, clearly influenced by a stark Gothic imagery, and serve as an extra layer of mystery to the already suggestive body of work. The album beings with a soft acoustic intro in "As the Night Falls_" before descending into the raw and raucous "Elegy for the Memory of Me" and "Den Venstre Hånd På Den Hoyre", both songs that are drenched in the more traditional black metal style of raspy, high-pitched vocals, dense, tremolo- picked riffs and fast paced drums. It is however songs like "Night" and "Love" that really set this album apart. "Night" is a softly spoken word ambient track that with a beautiful piano synth work that permeates throughout it aids in the romantic delivery and conjuring of imagery of the night. "Love" is a spellbinding and melancholic song, equal in its romanticism but one that displays a deeper sorrow and tenderness supported by calming field recordings of trickling water. The intertwining of black metal, dark folk and ambient repeats itself, culminating in a quietly hummed outro "...And Never Ends (Eternal Love)" that alludes to and completes the album's first track.

Stars Are the Light, the luminous seventh album by the American psych explorers Moon Duo, marks a progression into significantly new territory. From a preoccupation with the transcendental and occult that informed Ripley Johnson and Sanae Yamada's guitar-driven psych rock, and reached its apotheosis in the acclaimed Occult Architecture diptych, Stars Are the Light sees the band synthesize the abstract and metaphysical with the embodied and terrestrial.ÿ Branching out from Occult Architecture Vol. 2, the album has a sonic physicality that is at once propulsive and undulating; it puts dance at the heart of an expansive nexus that connects the body to the stars. Taking disco as its groove-oriented departure point, Stars Are the Light shimmers with elements of '70s funk and '90s rave. Johnson's signature guitar sound is at its most languid and refined, while Yamada's synths and oneiric vocals are foregrounded to create a spacious percussiveness that invites the body to move with its mesmeric rhythms. With Sonic Boom (Spacemen 3, Spectrum) at the mixing desk in Portugal's Serra de Sintra, the area's lush landscape and powerful lunar energies exerted a strong influence on the vibe and sonic texture of the album.

Limited red vinyl edition.

Dies Occidendum is a mythical voyage across fog-laden, scorched earth terrain from the original friar of dark hip hop, Dj Muggs the Black Goat. Known and revered as the sonic mastermind behind both Cypress Hill and his own Soul Assassins imprint, here Muggs sheds the MCs and presents his latest dark-soaked productions as an illuminated manuscript of sorts; a fully immersive, instrumental soundtrack to the mysterious Dies Occidendum. No one wields the Excalibur of sonic darkness quite like Muggs. Combining ingredients of psych rock, gypsy folk with modern elements of trap, forged together under layers of his signature sonic grime, Muggs has created yet another blueprint for the utmost sonic menace and macabre. The Renaissance is upon us. Long live King Muggs.

Devour marks the fourth full-length record from Margaret Chardiet's project Pharmakon and her most intense output to date. Like her previous albums, Devour comes with a strong concept that is exorcised throughout the five demolishing tracks on the album, using imagery and language of self-cannibalism as allegory for the self-destructive nature of humans. Each of the five songs echoes a stage of grief associated with this cyclical chamber of self-destruction and the chaos surrounding us that leads us to devour ourselves in an attempt to balance the agony. The album was recorded by Ben Greenberg (Uniform) and is the first Pharmakon album recorded live in studio. The A and B sides were each recorded as a continuous take with vocals from start to finish, marking a totally new process for the artist that allows the ferocity and immediacy of her live performance to resonate throughout. Devour also explores new sonic territory, with denser electronics, groovier hooks, and moments of her most unhinged vocal deliveries to date. As one of the premiere vanguards of modern industrial and power electronics, Chardiet continuously pushes the genres and everyone involved in them, and with the release of Devour, she has once again changed the game. Artist Statement:"Devour" uses self-cannibalization as allegory for the self-destructive nature of humans; on cellular, individual, societal and species-wide scales. In our cells, our minds, our politics and our species, humans are self-destructing. But this behavior does not happen in a vacuum. It is an instinctive inward response to a world of increasing outward violence, greed, and oppression. Turning these wounds toward ourselves can be seen as an attempt at "balancing feedback", within a never-ending positive feedback loop of cause and effect. With this view, the blame is placed not within the individual, but with the world they must contend with, and a society that is designed to fail them - to keep them gnashing and wailing, inflicted with an all-devouring hunger that inevitably turns in on the self. Those that pit them against each other grin from the sidelines, bellies full. Those who see beyond the veil need to obscure the horrid sight by any means necessary, but respite is always brief- nothing can dampen the glare from behind the veil. This album is dedicated to all who were lost to their own demise, all who have been institutionalized; whether in prison, psychiatric facilities, or drug rehabilitation. It is for all those ostracized by and isolated from a totality which chews them up alive in a self-cannibalizing caste system. Here, where martyrs, slaves, and pharmakos are not eradicated, but simply called by another name. "ABOUT THE SHALLOWNESS OF SANITY"... To be well adjusted in this system is to be oblivious and unfeeling. This is for the rest of us, who understand that chaos, madness, pain and even self destruction are natural and inevitable responses to an unjust and disgusting world of our own making.

In the early 1990s, a team of linguists, engineers, anthropologists, and archaeologists were tasked with constructing a type of communication that could transcend time. How might we converse with future civilizations when language may evolve or dissolve entirely? The result yielded the design of spike fields; a strange construction of granite thorns bursting from the earth to alert its viewers to the deadly uninhabitability of nuclear waste disposal sites. For Maria BC (they/them), this state of temporal focus molds the wanderings on their second full length album Spike Field. How do we connect with the weathered shadow of our experience, while envisioning the self a few steps ahead of us? While their debut album Hyaline (2022, Father/Daughter) explored grief and anxiety through a series of character-led accounts, Spike Field recognizes that the past will continue to lurk below the surface until we decide to break through the soil. Spike Field was recorded in the home of a family friend. The home featured an out-of-tune baby Steinway piano, complete with squeaky hammers and strange, sporadic sounds. The piano is sprinkled throughout the album, and features extensively on opener "Amber," showcasing Maria BC's looser, more extensive arrangements. The song flickers with electronic wonder, like a wave seeking out its station, before crashing into the angelic choral introduction of "Watcher". Strings, plucked guitar and buzzing swells accompany their classically-trained mezzo-soprano voice on "Return to Sender," a song that focuses on the frustrations and turmoil of being unable to reach a loved one--both physically and emotionally. Spike Field reminds us that despite our best efforts to bury certain aspects of ourselves, they will always lurk beneath the surface. Instead of ignoring the seeds striving to break through, we can point to these places with a curious grace, concocting a language that transcends words to converse with our previous selves. Maria BC pieces together juxtaposing sonic landscapes and oscillating vocals to represent the thread of miscommunication, or the failure of words, that weaves throughout the album, transforming it into a distinct and ever-evolving sonic tongue. If we listen, we might find something new within ourselves.

Monument is a fitting title for the third album by Belarusian trio Molchat Doma. Indeed, it stands as a monument to everything they've achieved in their short time as a band, from whispered-about unknowns, to enigmatic underground icons, to legitimate viral sensations with hundreds of thousands of TikTok videos using their music. Monument sees them return as conquering heroes, expanding on the minimalist greatness of S Krysh Nashikh Domov and Etazhi to fully realize a more maximalist vision of their crystalline post-punk sound.Written and recorded while the band was quarantined in their hometown of Minsk during the COVID-19 pandemic, Monument is a conscious step up in songwriting and fidelity, and it reveals a band preternaturally comfortable in its own skin. Whether playing to the dancefloor, as they do on the synthpop anthem "Discoteque," or working more introspectively on pre-pandemic live favorites "Otveta Net" and "Ne Smeshno," Molchat Doma are in complete control. Their greatest strength has always been their songwriting, and they've only gotten better.As the band's arrangements have grown more sophisticated, so too have the sounds they use to bring them to life. Roman Komogortsev and Pavel Kozlov's gear arsenal has grown to include an extensive range of synthesizers and drum machines, all of which they deploy with precision. Egor Shkutko's vocals move fluidly between his familiar deadpan monotone and an expressive croon, his beautifully delivered Russian lyrics at turns bleak and romantic. Shkutko has often been compared to Ian Curtis, but here, he outgrows the comparison. With Monument, Molchat Doma have done one of the hardest things to do as a band. They've greatly expanded the scope of their music while retaining everything that made them great in the first place.