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LAZARVS – GODSLAYER

Stunning heavy-riff metal compressed in a one minute track single. It’s ridiculous that under the name Lazarvs this one track will be the only find but I’ve still clocked at least an hour on the artist. That’s one play per day on average since its release.

So there was this band called Apey & the Pea, which I liked a lot. I got hooked with the very first EP mainly because their headbanging, sometimes melodic, sometimes grunge, stoner rock and roll that is a sound coming and going in the Hungarian scene and there’s always a band that’s best at it. And they became that best one for quite a while. And then they started changing, their music and live performances becoming more agressive each time. I started to become hesitant whether I still liked this band or not, or rather whether it was still something for me.

Finally they decidedly started a new era last year when they changed their name to Lazarvs and I like that they did this. This new form with its new name and visual aesthetic feels really different and gives a different context. And in this context I don’t mind their more agressive and harsher sound. Listening to this merely one minute long teaser to the upcoming new album gets me excited. I’m looking forward to cutting barbed wire with teeth to this music.

A lot of bands say that they feel obliged to deliver the same sound and same music over and over again because otherwise their fans would abandon them. So essentially the bands either piss their fans off or do something that they are not comfortable with. Maybe the real solution to this catch-22 is what Apey did when becoming Lazarvs. Get over yourself, peel away a skin, be born again, and feel free to set off on a different path.

I guess the only reason why most bands wouldn’t do this is because there’s this brand and marketing vehicle they built and they don’t want to loose it and start over. Even more so will I respect a band that still does the honest choice and takes that leap. And you don’t want to sell to the same people by all means anyway, you wan to sell to the people who want to listen to your current music. These may be new fans but those will be the real fans, and not those people who are just nagging you to repeat yourself over and over again.

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Kelpe – Run With the Floating, Weightless Slowness

I find peacful ambient and modern classical best for work nowadays. I have a lot going on these days, and it’s like my mind is completely full with information and decisions and there’s just no room for too many beats and spoken words. Albums like this keep my mind clear and leave room for thinking. Besides it’s pretty nice, too.

Melodic ambient with a wide array of acousitc instruments. The second track (All the Way Round) reminded me of a soundtrack hook from Penny Dreadful (the London series), which nailed my attention for the rest of the record. The rest is not at all like that, btw. But still, no regrets for staying.

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Thievery Corporation – Symphonik

It was just recently that I revisited some memories of nu jazz and Thievery Corporation is definitely of the same era. This album is essentially a best of record for them with orchestral rearrangements. Honestly, this is not a big deal, the reworks are not earth shattering, but the tracks are classics anyway and it’s a nice throwback.

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Blanck Mass – Calm With Horses (Original Score)

Another one of those soundtracks that get me to watch a movie. Otherwise I’d probably pass on another film starring Barry Keoghan. But the music is another hit home by Benjamin John Power, he has never let me down so far. Tense, dark, full of stress, from ambient to pumping industrial electronics. I can hear those pictures of unease and emptiness, then running and fighting, I want to see that editing that’s based on these rhythms and sounds. I’d love to play it too, if this was a game soundtrack.

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The Orb – Abolition of the Royal Familia

Ambient house, straight-up ambient, and dub-fused chill-out music, exactly something like made by The Orb. All sounds are coming from a happy place, it’s light-hearted, easy to listen, and high on delight, it just makes me happy. It’s hard to pick favorite tracks but right now I love the long soothing soundscape of Shape Shifters best with its city ambience and trumpet notes. Although I changed favorites quite a bit since this is my go-to record to listen to whenever I don’t have time or need to think twice for the past two monhts right from its very release. I’m quite amazed how Paterson can deliver such a great album after 30 years steady in the business.

It’s a bitch that sometimes I can least elaborate about my favorite music. There are certain stuff that you just have to listen to and feels mundane to write words. This is one of those.

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Sinoia Caves – Beyond The Black Rainbow (original soundtrack)

This movie has been on my radar and watch list for such a long time and randomly came across its soundtrack now, which just emphasized that I have to see this. Mysterious and eerie ambient, and also retro futuristic synthwave done right. Just listening to it visualizes the neon lights blinking through the mist in the thick forest at night. I love this atmosphere and aesthetic so very much.

The last time I listened to a soundtrack so many times before watching a movie was The Moon where I had already known all the cues by the time of actually connecting the sounds to visual images. But that was fun! Btw the other movie of Panos Cosmatos (Mandy) I have seen and it was hilarious and fascinating at the same time. So looking forward to Beyond The Black Rainbow, too.

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JASSS – Whities 027

Two very distinct tracks on this record. The liner notes are pretty accurate for Turbo Olé: “fucking rocket fuel” with “giddy jibber-jaw trance lead”, “electro breaks” and “a ‘90s cyber-trance riff”. Correct, it’s a rave scene in a sci-fi movie. The B side starts off as an IDM rhythmic noise piece but also ends up in with some broken beat trance vibe. Wow. My current favorite music for reading the setting book for the new Cyberpunk Red RPG.

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Me And That Man – New Man, New Songs, Same Shit, Vol.1

After their epic debut filled with wonderful voodoo blues the new album experiments on a way wider spectrum. I still like the first record better but this one has a few good songs, too, although not necessarily in the same genre. The occult American folk is now swapped with more of an outlaw country style, the only one that’s dark enough for my taste is Man of the Cross. And then there are the odd ones out, which are great just for another album, like Run with the Devil (a full-on party rock and roll track) or How Come? (can neve resist a Corey Taylor cameo).

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Myrkur – Folkesange

It’s simply a folk album. And it blows my heart up.

I like many things that’s related to folklore as narrative, spiritualism, and different forms of art. I love tales, mythology, traditions, rituals, masks, songs of heroic deeds, folk artwork, traditional instruments, the spiritual connection to nature, Earth, blood, flesh.

I think people would assume me to be a full-on technocrat because I take stand on transhumanism, utmost use of technological advancements, and generally admire achievements of intelligence. And that’s true. But where I position myself is the intersection of these two worlds, sometimes referred to as technopaganism or technoshamanism.

As such I despise all forms of using technology against nature, including erasing wildlife to be superseded by the footprint of human civilization, industrialized farming to serve consumerist gluttony, and warfare where intelligence is exploited to fight against itself. However I have no problem for example with hunting or farming for food and personal consumption as a part of life, as an element of the cycle of nature.

These are thoughts I get when listening to Myrkur. It is an enchanting soundscape to close my eyes to and think that I am an eagle soaring in the bright blue sky, feeling the wind brushing my wings, looking down at a vast forest, seeing the dashing of deers, the wolf pack chasing after them, and finding the thin stream of smoke rising from a couple of chimneys of a small human settlement in the distance.

This kind of music keeps returning to my life occasionally and every time we meet I fall in love. The last and most memorable occurrence was when I got to know Heilung – the live recording of Krigsgaldr still gives me goosebumps any time I watch it.

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Onipa – We No Be Machine

African world music meets afro-futurism. The essence of this tradicional instruments meet booty shake electronics shows well in the track Sohaa Gb3k3 – that’s a favorite, hilarious but in a good way.