Malka – The Constant State

NYC psych dream-gazers MALKA debut EP The Constant State

“Very soundtracky experience. Redolent in many ways of Gong and the whole European freer and communal music movements, including Krautrock… gives the impression of a phantom poppy edge, like a comp of the hits all these bands had back in the day…in an alternative world 🙂 there is a Mogwai vibe too, but fresher somehow” – Joe Foster (Creation Records)

FOR FANS OF: Pale Saints, Lush, Chapterhouse, M83, My Bloody Valentine, Explosions in the Sky

New York City-based psychedelic dreampop band MALKA present their debut EP, The Constant State. Recorded at both APT Studio (NYC) and Elohino studio (NJ), mixed by Darko Saric, and mastered at 825 Studios by Grammy Award-winning engineer Butch Jones (Madonna, Talking Heads, Iggy Pop, The Gun Club, B-52s), The Constant Statetakes listeners on a genre-melding journey, ebbing and flowing through the realms of dreampop, post-rock, nugaze, and psychedelic rock.

The songs are evocative both musically and lyrically, touching on metaphysical, existential and interpersonal subject matter with an honesty that resonates to an emotional core. Their music is a reflection of the triumph and tragedy of the world, compelling us to look deeper into the realms of our consciousness. Malka is trying to stretch the concept of songs to make them sound more like emotional lapses of time.

The vocal melodies assume an instrumental form and transcend language, adding transparency to bilingual Spanish-English lyrics shared between three lead vocalists.

The Constant State is on Bandcamp, as well as iTunes and streaming through Spotify, Rdio, etc. The single Mirame is available as a free download via Noisetrade at http://noisetrade.com/malkanyc/mirame

 

Various – REVOLUTION – The Shoegaze Revival

“Revolution – The Shoegaze Revival” is an epic, truly international 30-track compilation, involving underground artists from all over the world, who are virtually united under one revolutionary flag – that of a shoegaze revival. Welcome to the broad and often misunderstood world of shoegaze.

Curated by UK label Ear to Ear Records and Indonesian label Gerpfast Kolektif, this compilation features 30 bands from 16 countries, covering 5 of the 6 inhabited continents.

This project is heavily supported by Joe Foster (Creation Records), who explains “This is a new comp with the best of the world shoegaze/magical psychpoppy’s REBIRTH…. Ear To Ear Records are a new Welsh/Canadian label in the spirit of Creation and 4AD and just as obsessed as that! Why do I refer to rebirth instead of revival? In contrast, a *rebirth* in the same period gave us such bands as The Cramps, Primal Scream and Cocteau Twins – what a range!! And such a huge and wide world of music…this is exactly what is happening again in a new and unexpected way! 30 bands from 16 countries worldwide…an unprecedented spread of hope and art”.

Members of Swervedriver, Slowdive, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Swallow [4AD Records], Strata Florida [Saint Marie Records] and The Telescopes [Creation Records] have also expressed their support, as well as renowned British producer Fran Ashcroft(Damon Albarn, Lords of Acid). We are hopeful that this compilation will help move this genre beyond being “The Scene That Celebrates Itself” to one that is also celebrated by others…

FEATURED BANDS by country: CANADA-UKRAINE (Ummagma) / RUSSIA (Sounds of Sputnik) /  UK (Lights That Change, Woziak, Blood Lips) / CHILE (Trementina) / ITALY (Stella Diana, Clustersun, Rev Rev Rev, Weird) / JAPAN (Ether Feels, Magao, Spool) / AUSTRALIA (Hideous Towns) / USA (Stellarscope, Slow Motion Picture) / HONG KONG (The Yours, Thud, The Evening Primrose) / PAKISTAN (//orangenoise) / BRAZIL (Duelectrum, Robsongs) / PERU (Puna) / GERMANY (Jaguwar) / FRANCE (Hermetic Delight) / INDONESIA (Intenna, Sharesprings, Damascus, Digilite, Seaside).

 

Various – Rock Back For Nepal (Volumes 1, 2, 3)

Global Indie Artists Come Together for Nepal Disaster Relief Series

Rock Back for Nepal is the first in a 3-part series of disaster relief compilations being released by U.S. indie label Patetico Recordings. The label is partnering with nearly 60 independent artists and several small indie labels around the globe to make this happen. They have all come together in order to raise funds for victims of the recent catastrophic earthquakes in Nepal. All money raised will go directly to the relief efforts.

The compilations are being supported by several luminaries of the independent rock and shoegaze scene, among others. “Whenever Tom Lugo reaches out to his musical family, you know it’s for a crucial and essential cause. The Rock Back for Nepal CD compilation is no exception,” explains Dean Garcia of seminal shoegaze bands Curve and SPC ECO. “I’m proud to be part of this relief effort / fund raiser for anyone affected by the recent earthquake disaster in Nepal and if I can help or contribute in some way to aid support and assistance to the many displaced people, I will without question. Please support this cause and donate as generously as you can.”

Perhaps one of the most renowned personalities in the shoegaze / noise rock spheres, Oliver Ackermann (A Place To Bury Strangers, Skywave) has also lent his support to the cause. “It is a horrible tragedy this destruction of culture and life. I feel lucky that I can use my craft and contribute a song to this fund to help them raise money for relief. If we can all do something to help and give relief for the people of Nepal we should do it now.”

“It’s great to be among this sparkling array of brilliant artists, taking action in support of a great cause,” says Marc Joy of Welsh outfit Lights That Change. Alexx Kretov of Canadian-Ukrainian duo Ummagma is also hopeful.”May the common freebie attitude fall to the wayside for this project. We really hope that people will support a higher cause by spending a few dollars and spreading this music far and wide.”

All three volumes are being released at the same time, and will be available through Bandcamp and Amazon.com exclusively, both digitally and on CD.The album artwork and design is by Gardy Perez.

The concept of the Rock Back compilation series was born in 2011 when disaster hit Japan and Tom Lugo, owner of Patetico Recordings, acted on his empathy for charitable causes and non-profit organizations by reaching out to the community of artists in his network. They collectively put together a compilation and the profits were donated to relief efforts. The response was overwhelming, with over 100 artists from across the globe joining in the efforts. What was to be a single CD compilation grew into the 8-disc compilation Rock Back for Japan. The compilation series hit the top 10 Indie Rock releases on Amazon.com’s chart for several weeks, with certain volumes holding the number 1 spot.

VOLUME 1 features
SPC ECO (UK), A Place to Bury Strangers (USA), Ummagma (Canada-Ukraine), Lights That Change (UK), Sounds of Sputnik (Russia), Stellarscope (USA), The Manhattan Love Suicides (UK), Clustersun (Italy), The One2s (USA), Panophonic (USA), Death Valley Rally (USA), The Virgance (UK), Purple Bloom (Japan), Arirang (Italy), The Artificial Shadow Band (Puerto Rico), Kitsch (Panama), and Revolution, I love you (USA)

VOLUME 2 features
Malka (NYC-Peru), Asalto al Parque Zoologico (Argentina), Stella Diana (Italy), Chatham Rise (USA), Tape Runs Out (UK), Under the Wire (USA), Psiconautas (Puerto Rico), Car Crash Sisters (Mexico), Last Remaining Pinnacle (USA), The Narentines (Switzerland), Human Colonies (Italy), Sueño con belugas (Puerto Rico), Blackfeather Jane (USA), Dead Parties (Spain-Australia), Estrella Oscura (UK), Mayflower Madame (Norway), and Los Sub (Argentina)

VOLUME 3 features
Novanta (Italy), Lunar Twin (USA), Joaquim Barato (Portugal-Peru), Withershins (USA), Un-Reason (Italy), The Long Knives (USA), Lazarus (USA), Salvia (Chile), This Forever Sky (UK), Clarence Mayhew (USA), Corrosive Water (USA), Sonora Coisa (Brazil), The Paper Road (Portugal), Hijos de Paul (Argentina), Drass (Argentina), Cthulhu Martini (USA), Fovea (USA), Matotumba (Puerto Rico), Bergegas Mati (Indonesia), and Get Lost, Wire Avenue (Slovakia)

Click HERE for Volume 1

Click HERE for Volume 2

Click HERE for Volume 3

 

Dreamchild – Music of Ethereal Nightmares and Fever Dreams

                                Photo by Cheryl Fair Photography

Cheryl Wanner and Frank Gerace have gone by the name Dreamchild since the late 90’s when they released their first album titled “Gates to the Sea”.

Dreamchild hail from Massachusetts USA and they have a unique music style.

After listening to four of their albums I have to warn you that listening to just one of them wouldn’t do them any justice.

In the four albums I have in my possession they deal with four different realities distilled through their own absinthecal music taste:

“La Fée Verte” is a 15 track album released in 2000 that takes the listener to a world where the shadows have fun with the green fairy playing 14 original tracks and deconstructing the Beatles song “Cry Baby Cry”.

Four years later, in 2004, Dreamchild returned with the album “Lullabies for the Dead”.

In 16 tracks, Dreamchild sing the characters of the album back to life: Ethereal nightmares and fever dreams about Orphee, Salome, Frida Kahlo, The Lady of the Lake, and Morgana Le Fay, as well as “La Belle Dame Sans Merci”, a musical setting for stanzas from John Keats’s haunting poem with additional in French.

With strong touches of folk “Lullabies for the Dead” sounds like the band left pixie-land to successfully flirt with the macabre.

In 2008 Wanner and Gerace released their Grand Guignol-esque double album “Sleeping Flowers Severed, Scream of Slaughter”.  An album made of humal skulls and lilies. Completely different from the two releases I mentioned above.

On the first disc there is a medieval atmosphere while Diamanda Galás influence can sometimes be traced in Wanner’s performance. Dreamchild also work on a poem by 19th century esoteric poet Fiona Macleod/William Sharp, the Love Aria from Samson & Delilah by Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns, Ave Maria, Lady MacBeth’s sleepwalking scene from the Scottish Play by W. Shakespeare, and they close with a song about Lizzie Borden.

Things are different on the 13 tracks of the second CD as the medieval atmosphere gives way to a modern one.

Here they cover Peter Gabriel’s “Here Comes the Flood”, “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” (originally by Bauhaus), Georges Bizet, Elliot Goldenthal (winner of the Academy Award for Best Original Score in 2002 for his score to the motion picture Frida…) and Hernán Bravo Varela.

The latest Dreamchild album “Le Cabaret de L’Enfer” took its name after a Parisien Hell-themed café on the Boulevard de Clichy no. 54 (Moulin-Rouge is at no. 82).  It opened in the late 19th century and operated till the mid 20th…

On the cover, Wanner and Gerace look like two of the customers of the café. Maybe like two musicians that were playing for the customers’ amusement.  I’ll risk to say that “Le Cabaret de L’Enfer” is the most “down to Earth” album of Dreamchild.

As they did on their previous albums, the drums are used on 2-3 out of the 12 original tunes.

This time, they do three very interesting covers: 1) on Kate Bush’s “Wuthering Heights” 2) on “La Llorona” (a traditional song about a the story of a woman said to haunt the valleys of Mexico, weeping for her children whom she drowned in a fit of madness), and finally 3) on Nico’s “Janitor of Lunacy”.

A big number of different instruments were used on these four albums: Wire-strung harp, bass, kalimba, harpsichord, zils, assorted percussion, pedal harp, oboe, and keyboards played by singer Cheryl Wanner. All VG-99 and VG-8 guitars, bass, electric and acoustic guitars by Frank Gerace.

Sometimes in French, sometimes in Spanish, but basically in English, Dreamchild is a project that you should try at least once.  For sure you will never forget them…

For more of Dreamchild’s music, click HERE to visit their website…