KOOL ROCK RADIO: 04/14/21

Wednesday, April 14, 2021

XTR HUMAN Reveals Details For New Album 'G.O.L.D'

Berlin post punk/cold wave/shoegaze artist XTR HUMAN has revealed full details of his forthcoming new album 'G.O.L.D'.

The follow-up to last year's Interior, will be released on June 11 via Berlin’s Braid Records and features his previous singles "Wie Ein Gott" and "LEBEN OHNE LICHT". Pre-order your copy here.

Though the hallowed halls of Berlin’s nightlife excess now sit cold, the sounds that once haunted their depths beat ever onward, and colder still. Birthed in these hushed plaguelands, XTR HUMAN’s new full-length G.O.L.D evokes the frozen melancholy of a post-pandemic city, driven ever onward by the impetus of night’s primary currencies: sweat, release and change.

The latest full-length from Johannes Stabel, G.O.L.D finds the German producer evolving as much as the rest of the world has had to. Taking his political and socially conscious lyrics into his native tongue brings a deeper and more powerful thrust to their weight—particularly at a time when Germany is weighing its own social consciousness after years of being seen as a leading world figure.

Across G.O.L.D’s ten tracks, Stable brings our zeitgeist into a new realm, where the anger and frustration at our current existence is refined into the energy that fuels our engines, that primal desire always amplified during times of social upheaval—the desire to move your body.

Many of the songs delve into Stabel’s own experiences as a German, from explorations of the Deutsch mentality of persistent fear to tackling the fake news, jingoism, racists and coronavirus deniers on hypnotic bangers ‘Dark Germany’ and ‘Dieser Klang’; issues just as prevalent in Germany as in the USA and UK.

Yet each song carries just as much weight on to the dance floor, melding driving EBM bass with soaring synthlines and coldwave atmospheres that dispel the tenseness that such heavy topics imbue, in favor of intensity and beauty. Influenced by the pop hooks of Austrian New Wave legend Falco, G.O.L.D never neglects its danceability and HD club accessibility, no matter how heady the lyricism. ‘Starker Junge’, a dissection of toxic masculinity, drops down onto the listener with sparkling synths and razor-sharp guitar, while capitalist critique ‘Fleisch’ is a pogo synthpop anthem that could send any floor into a twirling frenzy.

Wrapped in darkened beats and political ideals, G.O.L.D can’t hide the light that emanates from within its glistening, imminently catchy hooks and groove-laden rhythms. In a time where the dance floor sometimes seems like a distant memory, it’s the perfect philosopher’s metal to transmogrify your existence.

G.O.L.D tracklist:

01. Leben ohne Licht (ft. Luca Gillian)

02. Wie ein Gott

03. Fleisch

04. Exzess

05. Angst

06. Maschine

07. Dark Germany

08. Starker Junge

09. Dieser Klang

10. Keine Heimat

(facebook.com/XtrHuman)

Tags: XTR Human

New Entry: Tronik Youth Drop New Single "U R A SLAVE"

UK DJ, producer, remixer and slo-mo techno pioneer, Neil Parnell aka Tronik Youth has dropped his new single "U R A SLAVE".

The track will be out this Friday (April 16) via Nein Records, featuring remixes from Black Light Smoke and Mundo D. Get your copy here.

Stream it below.

(facebook.com/TronikYouth)

Tags: Tronik Youth

New Entry: IDER Announce New LP 'shame', Stream "Cross Yourself"

British synth pop duo IDER (Megan Markwick and Lily Somerville) have announced the release of their sophomore full-length album 'shame'.

The follow-up to 2019’s Emotional Education, will be out on August 6 through Glassnote. The pair originally planned to write the album in Berlin, and it might have worked if not for the coronavirus pandemic. “We got there, and we got COVID four weeks later,” they said in a statement. “We had three weeks of heaven where we wrote so much new music and it was everything we dreamed of, living that chaotic, no-routine lifestyle. We Thelma and Louised it back, because the messaging at the time was, ‘If you don’t come back to London now, you never will.’”

Speaking of their new single they explained: "'Cross Yourself' is a reflection on how we search for purpose – how we often attach meaning to things or like the idea of something external to believe in, in exchange for believing in ourselves."

Check out the album's tracklist and listen to "Cross Yourself" below.

shame tracklist:

01. Cross Yourself

02. cbb to b sad

03. Knocked Up

04. obsessed

05. BORED

06. waiting 17 03

07. embarrassed

08. Midland’s Guilt

(facebook.com/weareider)

Tags: IDER

Watch: Sindy Reveals Music Video For "Real Tennis"

Swedish alternative/lo-fi/trip hop musician Sindy (aka Tom Serner) has released the video for his newest single "Real Tennis".

The song is part of our current playlist and is taken from the forthcoming new album 'HORROR HEAD', co-produced with Jacob Haage (El Perro Del Mar, HOLY etc), which will be available on April 23 through PNKSLM Recordings. Pre-order your copy here.

Sindy had always known that he wanted this first album under his Sindy moniker to be a love letter to the nineties influences he grew up with, continuing in the vein of Hits for Kids, last year’s thrilling five-track EP. Now, he had the opportunity to take deep dives in the catalogues of cornerstones of the decade’s alt-rock pantheon, starting first with Radiohead, charting their progression from post-grunge to experimental electronica. With that foundation laid, he turned to shoegaze, ob-sessing over My Bloody Valentine: “I was inspired by the textural approach to music over melo-dy, even though MBV have both - Bilinda Butcher’s soft, ethereal vocals and Kevin’s weirdo gui-tar tunings.” As the process wore on, he explored the more eclectic side of the Sonic Youth oeu-vre, reappraised Sebadoh’s legendary III, and found a kindred spirit in Daniel Johnston, who’s lyricism chimed with Serner’s desire to imbue his music with a naiveté brought on by freedom of thought.

Watch the clip below.

Oscar Lang Announces Debut Album ‘Chew The Scenery’, Stream "Stuck"

London-based indie/alternative artist Oscar Lang has announced the release of his debut full-length album 'Chew The Scenery.'

The 13-track record will be available on 16th July through Dirty Hit. Pre-order your copy here.

Speaking about the album Lang says: “Over the past two years the sound of my music has changed a lot, from bedroom pop to rock. We recorded the album over a month up in Liverpool. It was a nice break away from the tedious lockdown in the UK as I got to spend a month away with my mates doing what I love. I think you can hear that built-up boredom being released on the record.”

About the new single he added: “‘Stuck’ is about the feeling of replaying embarrassing situations in your mind to the point where you feel overwhelmed with all the voices in your head,” he explains. “I spend a lot of the time re-hashing old experiences and often it means I’m a bit spaced out and can’t pay attention to things because I’m so distracted by my own thoughts. I wanted to express that chaos of all those voices running through my head down into a song.”

Check out the album's tracklist and the video for "Stuck", below.

Chew The Scenery tracklist:

01. Our Feature Presentation

02. 21st Century Hobby

03. I Could Swear

04. Stuck

05. Yeah!

06. Headphones

07. Write Me A Letter

08. Intermission

09. Are You Happy

10. Quarter Past Nine

11. Take Time Out

12. Final Call

13. Thank You

(facebook.com/oscarlangtunes)

Tags: Oscar Lang

New Entry: easy life Unveil New Single "skeletons"

Leicester alternative/indie dance band easy life have unveiled their new single "skeletons".

The song is taken from their forthcoming new album 'life’s a beach', which will be available on 4th June through Island Records. Pre-order your copy here.

‘a message to myself’ is easy life’s most candid and cathartic moment to date. a symphonic essay on depression - and a rallying call for self-love - the band worked on the track alongside world-class producer bekon, whose credits include kendrick lamar’s ‘damn’ and bj the chicago kid’s ‘in my mind’. one of modern pop’s more unsuspecting stars, ‘a message to myself’, says easy life front-man murray, “is a reminder to keep doing you. it’s a celebration of individualism at all costs. be yourself, nobody can do you better.”

Take a listen below.

(facebook.com/easypeasylemonsqueezylife)

Tags: easy life

New Entry: girl in red Unleashes New Single "you stupid bitch"

Norwegian indie rock/pop singer-songwriter girl in red (aka Marie Ulven) has unleashed her new single "you stupid bitch".

The song is taken from her forthcoming debut album 'if i could make it go quiet', which will be available on April 30 through AWAL. Pre-order your copy here.

Speaking about it, Marie says: “There’s this line from this movie I love, The Perks of Being a Wallflower that goes ‘we accept the love we think we deserve.’ It’s a very heartbreaking line, but it’s really what I was experiencing in this situation, where I was always there for this person who would get their heart broken, and I would just come running. I would drop everything just to be there for them. That person would never see me as anything else than just a friend, even though I feel like I could’ve made her so happy… The core essence of this track is like, I’m obviously here for you, and I want to be with you, but you keep messing around with other people, and you keep getting broken. It’s this really direct, straightforward track.”

Of the album, she adds: “if i could make it go quiet is an attempt to learn what it’s like to be human; to deal with the scariest parts of myself; to live with the pain of knowing i’m only flesh and bones; to be angry, broken and unforgiving yet still able to wear my heart on my sleeve; i’m shedding light on the darkest parts of my mind and i’m letting everyone in; if i could make it go quiet is me simply trying to understand what the fuck is going on.”

Take a listen below.

(facebook.com/girlinred)

Dais Records Announces Getting the Fear Collection 'Death Is Bigger: 1984-1985'

Dais Records has announced the release of 'Death Is Bigger: 1984-1985', the long-awaited LP collection from Legendary 80's post-punk band Getting the Fear.

The 10-track collection of rare and unreleased recordings from the short-lived band will be available on June 18. Pre-order your copy here.

It's testament to how fertile England's mid-80's musical landscape was that the splintering of short-lived post-punk pioneers Southern Death Cult seeded so many memorable but divergent groups – from widescreen rock legends The Cult to romantic pop duo Into A Circle to “the Asian Public Enemy,” Fun-Da-Mental. But the band's most potent subsequent cross-pollination was undoubtedly Getting The Fear, formed by The SDC's rhythm section of Barry Jepson, David 'Buzz' Burrows, and Aki Haq Nawaz Qureshi, joined by Temple Ov Psychic Youth associate Paul ‘Bee’ Hampshire on vocals.

Galvanized by Margaret Thatcher's “iron fist” austerity policies and the cultural liberation of punk, the group blazed to creative fruition, quickly landing a lucrative deal with RCA. But immediately after recording their 1984 debut single, Last Salute, a shake-up at the label left them stranded and without support. Rather than stall in music industry purgatory they chose to dissolve, escaping their restrictive contract. Bee's lyrics on “Last Salute” are fitting final words: “If this must end let it pass me by / I’ll remain your friend, only flowers die.”

But this is of course only part of the story. Death Is Bigger: 1984-1985 rectifies history's error, collecting the group's entire vault of demos and unreleased songs alongside liner notes and a photo gallery capturing Getting The Fear in all their high libertine glory. The compilation's 10 tracks are alternately brooding, spiky, and sneering, fixated on dreams, sex, and Charles Manson (the sleeve of Last Salute famously features a detail from Manson's embroidered waistcoat, unbeknownst to label execs). Razor wire guitars slice across tense rhythms, veering between minimal and melodic, occasionally flowering into psychedelic poetry, revealing Bee's deep affinity with Psychic TV.

Taken as a whole, the album showcases the breadth of forking paths facing UK post-punk in 1984: pop eating itself, new wave while still new, transgression as alternative not affectation. Getting The Fear's music feels eclectic and unfettered, following whim, lust, and impulse, glinting with darkness against the fires of youth: “The earth is still beneath my feet, I start to sink to lose myself / Friends and lovers stand around unconcerned, their eyes in flames.”

Check out the record tracklist and watch the video for "Against the Wind", below.

Death Is Bigger: 1984-1985 tracklist:

01. Rise (Demo Version)

02. Dune Buggy Attack

03. Last Salute (Demo Version)

04. Against the Wind

05. We Struggle

06. Sometimes

07. Yurune (Demo Version)

08. Fatal Date

09. Getting The Fear

10. Swell (Demo Version)

(facebook.com/GettingTheFear)

Watch: NOV3L Share Music Video For "NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE"

Vancouver new punk/post-punk band NOV3L have shared the video for their new single "NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE".

The song is taken from their forthcoming debut album ‘NON-FICTION’, set to arrive on out May 28th via Flemish Eye. Pre-order your copy here.

“NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE is a bitter, nostalgic submission to modernity, spiked with grief for a past forever gone and ambivalence for what lays ahead as Varley drones, “Forced adaptation, notice of foreclosure/Dragging us forward, an indifferent future.”

Watch/listen below.

(facebook.com/nov3lofficial)

Tags: Nov3l

Watch: Veik Air New Single/Video "Château Guitar"

French nowave/experimental/post punk/krautrock three-piece Veik have aired the video for their new single "Château Guitar".

The song is taken from their forthcoming debut album 'Surrounding Structures', due out April 30th on Fuzz Club. Pre-order your copy here.

Veik describe ‘Château Guitar’ as their attempt “to get to grips with the codes, conventions and structures of techno music but performed with our usual live setup of synths, drums and guitar”. Building in intensity throughout, the result fuses a dark and hedonistic four-to-the-floor pulse with razor-sharp post-punk guitars. On the accompanying visuals (directed by Léo Gack), they say that "the video presents a more intimate and intricate portrait of the relationship between humans and machines. It was directed by French director Léo Gack and shot on 16mm film, in the tradition of the 'cinéma vérité' films of the 1960s."

Watch/listen below.