Metropolis Records news

Post-Industrial band Statiqbloom will be releasing their new album entitled “Asphyxia” on Metropolis Records. The Brooklyn-based band
has earned quite a reputation with their unique brand of dark electronic beat heavy sounds that leads right up to their high anticipated album “Asphyxia.” The album will be available digitally as well as compact disc and limited edition vinyl on June 7th. Statiqbloom have tour dates that will dot the Summer both here and abroad.

STATIQBLOOM ON TOUR

Tuesday May 28 2019 Newark, NJ QXT’s
Saturday June 1 2019 Berlin, Germany Urban Spree
Thursday June 6 2019 Leipzig, Germany Felsenkeller
Tuesday June 11 2019 London, UK The Glove That Fits
Wednesday June 12 2019 Glasgow, UK Nice N’ Sleazy
Thursday June 13 2019 Aarhus, Denmark Tape
Saturday July 6 2019 Sao Paulo, Brazil Hotel Cambridge

Dawn of Ashes will soon start a 10 show West Coast tour in support of their latest Metropolis release entitled “The Crypt Injection II (Non Serviam).” Dawn of Ashes will be joined by special guests Die Sektor along with Midnight Nightmare.

Saturday 05/04/2019 Los Angeles CA Stardust Club
Sunday 05/05/2019 Oakland CA Elbo Room
Tuesday 05/07/2019 Portland OR Paris Theatre
Wednesday 05/08/2019 Seattle WA Highline
Thursday 05/09/2019 Boise ID The Shredder
Friday 05/10/2019 Salt Lake City UT The Loading Dock
Saturday 05/11/2019 Denver CO 3 Kings Tavern
Sunday 05/12/2019 Albuquerque NM Launchpad
Monday 05/13/2019 Phoenix AZ Club Red
Tuesday 05/142019 San Diego CA Brick by Brick

Metropolis Records is proud to announce the North American release of the latest album by Sweden’s electro/new wave/postpunk band Agent Side Grinder. The album entitled “A/X,” is the fifth by Agent Side Grinder and the first to feature their new singer Emanuel Åström. “A/X,” boasts 9 songs of sweeping synth melodies with guest appearances by Gustav Bendt (Club Killers) and the Danish-Canadian coldwave-singer Sally Dige. “A/X” will be available digitally on April 26th while the compact disc and limited edition vinyl will follow on June 7th.

 

The Membranes – What Nature Gives… Nature Takes Away (Cherry Red Records 7 June 2019)

The Membranes announce ‘What Nature Gives… Nature Takes Away’ LP, preview ‘A Strange Perfume’ single 

The Membranes have announced ‘What Nature Gives… Nature Takes Away’, a dark and brooding double album of psychedelic post-punk soundscapes set for release on June 7 via Cherry Red Records. Ahead of that, they are previewing lead track ‘A Strange Perfume’.

With sixteen epic, powerful and darkly romantic songs on offer, this is The Membranes’ eighth studio album overall and the second since they reformed in 2010 when former support band My Bloody Valentine convinced them to return to the stage for the ATP festival. This album is a game changer in the tradition of Manchester bands like Joy Division.

This album features appearances from vocalist Kirk Brandon (Theatre of Hate, Spear of Destiny) and 84-year-old folk singer Shirley Collins, one of England’s premier folk singers of the ’60s revival. Renowned nature TV presenter Chris Packham also contributes, as does the legendary Jordan, who practically invented the punk look in 1975. Half the tracks also feature the 20-piece BIMM Choir, offsetting a sound laden with dark drones and an atmosphere of melancholic epic power.

The album was recorded at 6DB Studio in Manchester with Ding Archer, formerly band member with PJ Harvey, The Pixies and producer of the last nine albums by The Fall. John Robb wrote all the parts for the choir. This release follows up their acclaimed album ‘Dark Matter/Dark Energy’, the band’s best selling release, which received rave reviews and ample radio play on BBC 6 Music and internationally.

‘What Nature Gives… Nature Takes Away’ is about the beauty and violence of nature. This is a very diverse work with dark, brooding cinematic choir-driven songs. Imagine the sound of Hieronymus Bosch paintings to discordant wild songs about crows, demon flowers, strange perfumes, voluptuous petals, voluminous oceans, treacherous seasons and the poetry of life and death set to spooked pulsing musical pieces, ranging from epic choir-driven postpunk songs to dark dub workouts, from throbbing dirty disco dark wave pulses to grinding heavy bass-driven pieces, from apocalyptic visions to choir driven epic swirls.

“This is the pinnacle of our long and strange journey. This album is steeped in the powerful forces of nature and an underlying emotional undertow that is dark and brooding bass driven postpunk with the epic swirl of the choir and a diversity of sounds that takes you on a trip. I put my life into this album musically, lyrically and emotionally,” says John Robb.

“The Membranes was born of postpunk in the late 1970s – a time when a generation inspired by punk rock created music on their own terms. We were immersed in that scene and that world and when we reformed we picked up on those themes and ideas and the diverse fellow travelers that we were contemporaries of like Joy Division, Bauhaus, Einsturzende Neubauten, Nick Cave, PiL, Big Black, and newer bands like Godspeed You Black Emperor, Mogwai, Ulver and Wardruna – bands who fuck with the template to create and atmosphere and mood.”

Formed in 1978 in Blackpool, The Membranes played classic bass-driven northern post punk and were part of the same world as bands like The Fall, Sisters Of Mercy, Echo and The Bunnymen and Cabaret Voltaire, all inspired by 1977 to launch their own idiosyncratic journeys. The band released a remarkable series of records that combined their small town frustration with a love of heavy bass and distortion. This ultimately became a prime influence and the precursors to such American noiseniks as Steve Albini, Swans and Sonic Youth.

John Peel and music press favourites, a continual frenzy of releases, public acclaim and touring worldwide with national TV appearances, the band went on hiatus in 1990 until finally reforming in 2010.

The Membranes are Peter Byrchmore (guitar), Nick Brown guitar), Rob Haynes (drums), and John Robb (vocals and bass), a renowned TV and radio pundit, editor of Louder Than War, a key UK music site and national magazine, and curator of the Louder Than Wordsfestival. In autumn, John Robb will also will release ‘The Art Of Darkness’, a book on the darker side of post punk, adding to his collection of best selling books on punk rock.

As of June 7, ‘What Nature Gives … Nature Takes Away’ will be available on vinyl and CD, and digitally from stores such as iTunes and streaming platforms like Spotify. There is also a deluxe double vinyl ultra limited edition of 150 copies. This summer, cosmetics company Lush will release a Membranes perfume called ‘A Strange Perfume’ after the album’s opening track. In the meantime, the band will tour the UK in support of their new LP.

TRACK LIST
1. A Strange Perfume
2. What Nature Gives … Nature Takes Away
3. A Murder of Crows
4. The City is an Animal (Nature Is Its Slave)
5. The 21st Century Is Killing Me
6. Deep In The Forest Where The Memories Linger
7. Black is The Colour
8. A Murmuration Of Starlings on Blackpool Pier
9. Mother Ocean/Father Time
10. The Magical and Mystical Properties Of Flowers
11. Snow Monkey
12. Demon Seed/Demon Flower
13. The Ghosts of Winter Stalk This Land
14. Winter (The Beauty and Violence of Nature)
15. Nocturnal
16. Pandora’s Box

CREDITS
John Robb – vocals and bass
Peter Byrchmore – guitar
Rob Haynes – drums
Nick Brown – guitar
Claire Pilling – choir conducter
BIMM choir – vocals on tracks 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 13, 16
Chris Packham on ‘Winter (The Beauty and Violence of Nature)’
Kirk Brandon on ‘The Magical and Mystical Properties Of Flowers’
Shirley Collins on ‘A Murmuration Of Starlings on Blackpool Pier’
Jordan on ‘Demon Seed/ Demon Flower’

Keep up with The Membranes
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Cherry Red Records
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New Zero God / Marios Katsanos & the Mystic Libraries live at Ioannina – Friday 19 April 2019

After a great show, last Saturday, in Athens, New Zero God will travel to NorthWest Greece for one more electric show on a double bill with local band Marios Katsanos & the Mystic Libraries.

 

 

New Black Line single to be released on record store day

Los Angeles outfit Black Line, is Douglas McCarthy (Nitzer Ebb), Bon Harris (Nitzer Ebb), Ken ‘hiwatt’ Marshall (Skinny Puppy) and musician, producer and engineer Cyrusrex.

After releasing their 2017 album “Treason, Sedition, and Subversive Activities,” Black Line supported Depeche Mode on their 2018 European tour and now release “The Sedition EP,” available via all streaming and download outlets on April 12th along with a limited edition 7” single on white vinyl available on Record Store Day, April 13th.

Tracks:

1. Sedition
2. Sedition (Sedated)
3. Sedition (Daniel Myer remix)
4. Go (Ken “hiwatt” Marshall mix)

 

 

LYCIA – A Line That Connects (May 31, Projekt)

Lycia’s A Line That Connects returns on CD (and for the first time on 2LP) on Projekt Records.

Originally released in the summer of 2015 on Handmade Birds, ALTC’s first pressing of 500 CDs quickly sold out.

Haunting, bleak, moody and atmospheric, their 10th album is a heavy record with shifting sonics and a full-band sound thanks to a return to the classic mid-90s Lycia lineup of Mike VanPortfleet, David Galas, and Tara Vanflower.

Building on the momentum of 2013’s Quiet Moments, it’s a contemporary sounding release that harkens back to their 90s darkwave roots.

Lycia’s mix of post-punk bleakness and doomy darkness is an engaging, fascinating listen.

There’s a heavier feel here, a slow burn that threatens to explode from sheer intensity and passion; if you’re wondering just how it’s able to be menacing but also meditative, you’re not alone.

The album flows through drone, dark-pop, and post-punk, with liquid guitar dripping, gloomy fog casting its spell, and hypnotic vocals spinning inside your head.

Mike reflects, “Time, space, and nature have been constant themes for Lycia over the years. With A Line That Connects, for my lyrical contributions I focused on lines and connections as the title suggests. There are connections between parents and children which I explore over several songs—between my mom and I, and between my son and I. There are lines that connect then and now. For example, the song, ‘A Ghost Ascends,’ was originally written back in 1983, and for this album it’s being revisited. The song’s original vocalist and lyricist, Michael Irwin, appears on this reworking providing backing vocals. Then there is a series of abstract connections that I explore, mostly to times and places from my childhood.”

You can place your order HERE

 

Where We Sleep – Experiments In The Dark (31 May 2019)

Blindness’ Beth Rettig announces debut EP as Where We Sleep, previews ‘The Desert’

London-based dark and dynamic pop project Where We Sleep has announced their debut EP ‘Experiments In The Dark’. Ahead of that, they present the lead single ‘The Desert’, a jaded and winding psych-infused track traversing similar addictive territory as PJ Harvey, Curve and Garbage.

At Where We Sleep’s core is Beth Rettig, perhaps best known as the vocalist of alt-pop darlings Blindness. But this project also involves collaborations with various other artists. ‘The Desert’ sees Rettig collaborate with Axel Ray of United Ghosts (and also The Black Windmill and Cadet A) on lead guitar.

Dark and rough around the edges, this EP combines synth and live elements. This release also features contributions from Ben Pritchard, formerly of The Fall and currently in Manc Floyd, and former Blindness bandmate Debbie Smith of Curve, Echobelly and SPC ECO fame (and also Snowpony with My Bloody Valentine’s Debbie Googe and Moonshake’s Katharine Gifford).

‘Experiments In The Dark’ is a five-track offering, recorded in studios between London and Manchester. This follows up Where We Sleep’s single ‘The First One’, released in August 2018, preceded by Where We Sleep’s debut single ‘Veins’ in June 2018, also featuring Debbie Smith, and b-side ‘Crawl’, mixed in Addis Ababa by Guy Fixsen.

Raised in Africa (Nigeria, Botswana and South Africa) and saying goodbye to the days of her Johannesburg band High, Beth Rettig returned to the UK in 2000 and eventually hooked up with Debbie Smith to form Blindness. They had a good run until playing their final gig in 2016, followed by ‘The Monsoon EP’ in 2007, their final release.

“When Blindness ended – solely down to a change in my personal life – I didn’t know if I was going to write again. Where We Sleep is the result of discovering that you don’t know how not to make music,” says Beth Rettig.

Rettig’s music is rooted in an array of influences, including Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Curve, EMA, Nine Inch Nails, Jesus and Mary Chain, Garbage, Kate Bush, Massive Attack, Patti Smith, PJ Harvey, Pete International Airport, White Rose Movement and The Fall.

About ‘The Desert’ video, Rettig explains, “The road footage in The Desert video was taken when Axel and myself took a road trip to the Mojave Desert in California, with trips to Pioneertown and Joshua Tree National Park. It seemed a shame not to use those visuals, albeit affected, for the song. As the song came first, it was a cool realisation that two people who did a song about driving through the desert together, were taking a road trip through the desert together.”

‘Experiments In The Dark’ is slated for release on May 31 and will be available across digital stores and streaming platforms. It can also be pre-ordered via Where We Sleep’s own Bandcamp site.

CREDITS
Music and performance by Where We Sleep
Lyrics by Beth Rettig
Beth Rettig – vocals and instruments
Debbie Smith – guitars on ‘Into The Light’
Ben Pritchard – lead guitars on ‘Control’
Axel Ray – lead guitars on ‘The Desert’
Mixing and Mastering by John Cranmer 
Video by Beth Rettig and  Axel Ray

TRACK LIST
1. What I Deserve
2. The Desert
3. Control
4.  Into The Light
5. Experiments In The Dark

Keep up with Where We Sleep
Website | Facebook | Bandcamp | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Soundcloud | Spotify | Press contact

 

New Zero God live at Lost N Found – Saturday 13 April

On Saturday 13 April New Zero God will enter the stage of Lost N Found to present tracks from their new album “Circus of Tortured Melodies” as well as tracks from their previous releases.

The band returns to the electric sound after a period of eight months that was touring playing a special acoustic set.

This time, Yiannis Drenoyiannis, guitar player of legendary Greek post-punk bands Anti Troppau Council and Yeah!,  will join them on stage as special guest for a number of songs.

Singer/songwriter Mike Pougounas started as the front man of the Greek band The Flowers of Romance, from 1981 to 1998.

From 1999 to 2005 he was the leader of the band Nexus and the owner of indie record label Cyberdelia Records from 2000 to 2005.

Pic by Elias Moraitis

In 2006 he formed New Zero God along with former bandmates from Flowers of Romance, and Nexus.

The band, went through several line-up changes with Pougounas being the sole consistent member, touring Greece and Italy.

To the list of the band names Sisters of Mercy, The Mission and New Model Army that Pougounas supported with his previous bands, now Christian Death, The Legendary Pink Dots and Andi Sex Gang were added.

The first New Zero God album titled “Fun Is A Four Letter Word” came out in 2010 and a year later, the track “Kiss the Witch” taken from the album reached the top 10 of the British magazine Terrorizer for two months

By the same year, Mike Pougounas joined a number of English, American and South African musicians to record a cover version of David Bowie’s “Everyone Says Hi” aiming to raise awareness  for the Sophie Lancaster Foundation (SOPHIE).

He also started hosting “The Blackout Radio Show with Mike Pougounas” that would go on air through American FM radio stations and Canadian and English UK web radios presenting new releases of underground artists and holding interviews with international musicians.

By December 2011, New Zero God released the digital single “Second Chance” in collaboration with international musicians, under the moniker New Zero God & Friends,  donating all proceeds of the song to a Massachusetts based organization called HAWC (Healing Abuse, Working for Change).

The single spent all January and half of February 2012 at first place on CD Baby.

Other tracks of the band are featured on compilations such the one of British magazine Devolution, the British compilation “The Blackout Cryptology“, the German compilation “Gothic Vision III“, the compilation of the American music magazine “Lollipop” and many others.

On the 4^th of July 2012, the British indie label Secret Sin Records released on CD New Zero God’s mini album “Club Bizarre” and on September 28, the band did some shooting for “Athens Drift” a movie by British film director Paul Druce, with Mike Pougounas holding a small role as a street philosopher.

On the dawn of the new year, Secret Sin Records released in the UK, the New Zero God album “MMXIII” and on March 25 New Zero God released digitally the single “The Night Calls Your Name” donating again all proceeds of the song, this time to the Sophie Lancaster Foundation (S.O.P.H.I.E.).

At the peak of a period of economic decline for Greece, Mike Pougounas founded in August 2013, the “Greek Underground Scene” in order to bring the Greek underground bands together and promote solidarity festivals for Greek foundations that help  people in need.

“Greek Underground Scene” released two digital compilations for free download through Bandcamp and put together a festival gathering money for medicines the cover the needs of the Metropolitan Social Clinic.

The 7” single “Destination Unknown / Forever Today” came out in December 2013 through Surgut Resort Records and by February 2014 the Greek edition of “MMXIII” comes out.

Pic by Elias Moraitis

More tracks by the band appear on international compilations: “Voices from Mislealia Vol. 1” in Italy, “Dark Secrets” in the UK and the compilation “For The Bats Vol. 2” intended to support financially the Australian foundation Tolga Bat Hospital.

April 2015 finds New Zero God playing live in Italy, supported by an Italian band that took their name from a New Zero God track: Dead Inside.

On June 8 the five track mini album “Zona Pericolosa” recorded live in Italy, is available on Bandcamp for free download.

One more track of the band will find its way to an English compilation in October and on the 15^th of March 2016 New Zero God will release the album “Short Tales & Tall Shadows” both on CD and on vinyl format (with some differences on the track list).

A 7” split single with Scottish band Savage Cut will be available in October, in Scotland and at the gigs of both bands. (Pougounas will write the lyrics and do the vocals for the track “Edo” on Savage Cut’s 2018 album “A Ricochet Off The Moon”)

The next New Zero God release is digital again. It’s the four track EP “Under the Influence of Captain Pan Ikatac” that came out on March 17.

The first signs of the forthcoming album “Circus of Tortured Melodies” can be traced here, as Pougounas starts writing a concept album about the source of modern neurosis that will be released in 2019.

In January 2018, the EP “Under the Influence of Captain Pan Ikatac” was released in the States as a cassette through the American label Custom Made Music.

New Zero God spent the whole year recording the new album and touring Greece with a special show with material from the albums that Pougounas released in the past, with The Flowers of Romance.

The band was invited by the Greek National tv Channel ERT 3 to record an exclusive live show featuring interviews that went on air five times through the whole year.

NEW ZERO GOD LINE-UP 

• Mike Pougounas – Vocals, keyboards
• Babis Efthimiou – Drums, programming
• Akis Nikolaides – Guitars
• John Psimopoulos – Drums
• Μichalis Semertzoglou – Bass

“Circus of Tortured Melodies” came out on March 15 and is available on limited colored vinyl edition and as a digital download via the band’s page on Bandcamp.

The entrance that night will be free.

Event page on Facebook

Find Lost N Found at 53 Keramikou str. Metaxourgeio, Athens, Greece

Public Transit:

Metaxourgio Metro Station

Kerameikos Metro Station

Thiseio Athens Metro Line 1 station

To keep up with New Zero God

Web site | Facebook | Bandcamp | Youtube

 

Ummagma – Caravan (Leonard Skully Records 8 May 2019)

Indie pop duo Ummagma to release first LP in 7 years, preview ‘Caravan’ single 

Indie pop electronic rock duo Ummagma have announced their new album ‘Compass’, to be released in June via Manchester-based label Leonard Skully Records. Their third long-play, this is the duo’s first album in seven years and also the first time the band is releasing a record on vinyl.

Ahead of this album, they present the ‘Caravan’ single, along with a special B-side ‘Ty i Ya’. The title track is an invigorating pop rock anthem inspired by the musicians’ own journeys and infused with Carpathian gammas and percussion.

‘Ty i Ya’ is a vibe-injected upbeat track, with infectious Daft Punk-esque bassline, that Alexander Kretov composed and performs in his native Ukrainian language. This is the first single Ummagma has ever released in a language other than English, stepping beyond the confines of past songwriting limits.

“Caravan is about a personal journey – one that begins in the mind before any borders have even been crossed,” says Ummagma vocalist Shauna McLarnon. “The trip is so much better when you truly want to be part of it. You map your own destiny in many ways and dreaming is a great place to begin.”

The ‘Compass’ LP is beguiling in its post-genre nature. It is an album of grace and change, of familiarity and exploration, of emotion and euphoria, of sky-scraping cinematic highs and intimate and intriguing lows. This is the sound of a band allowing themselves to jump creative divides, to kick down musical barriers, and rip up the rule book or perhaps just ignore the fact that there ever was one in the first place.

Formed in Moscow in 2003, McLarnon hails from northern Canada while Kretov is originally from western Ukraine. Now based in Peterborough, Ontario, the couple completed this album over the course of five years and multiple moves, ultimately hauling their studio with them across the Atlantic and setting up all over again. With such transience in the real world, how could their sonic world reflect anything other than the same fluidity and movement?

This record follows on the trail of their ‘LCD’ EP with Robin Guthrie (Cocteau Twins) and Dean Garcia (Curve), and ‘Winter Tale’ EP with 4AD dreampop pioneer A.R.Kane. Both of these were released in 2017.

They say you can tell a lot about someone by the company that they keep, and the same holds true for a band. Ummagma’s collaborations speak volumes. Apart from these three dreampop-shoegaze icons, they’ve worked with Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark’s Malcolm Holmes, Swervedriver’s Graham Bonnar, and nudisco kingpin Alexander Robotnick.

Ummagma’s music has always presented an exhilarating positive vision, showcasing their ability to wander diverse musical pathways. Representing Ukraine among 23 countries, they won the Alternative Eurovision on Amazing Radio in 2013, and have been featured in a full-page spread in Rolling Stone Russia. In 2015, their collaborative ‘New Born’ album with Sounds of Sputnik also received a Jagermeister indie award, Russia’s most esteemed music award.

Ummagma’s ‘Caravan’ single is out on May 8. The ‘Compass’ LP will be released on June 21 via Leonard Skully Records, available on black vinyl and CD with artwork by Alexander Kretov and also digitally everywhere, including on iTunes, Amazon and Spotify. In the meantime, it can pre-ordered directly via Bandcamp.

CREDITS
All songs written and performed by Ummagma
Music and arrangement by Alexander Kretov and Shauna McLarnon
Lyrics and vocals by Alexander Kretov and Shauna McLarnon
Produced, recorded, mixed and mastered by Alexander Kretov at Ummagma Studio
Publicity by Shameless Promotion PR
Cover design and artwork by Alexander Kretov at Ummagma Studio

Keep up with Ummagma 
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Keep up with Leonard Skully Records
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