Dublin-based dream-gaze noiseniks Submotile present their debut album ‘Ghosts Fade on Skylines’. Released digitally on April 16, the Midsummer Madness label will also be issuing the album in a limited edition run this summer.
On this 9-track offering, the duo blurs the lines between shoegaze, pop, noise-rock, ambient and post-rock, Submotile delivers a unique brand of layered, atmospheric and immersive indie rock.
Submotile are Michael Farren and Daniela Angione, an Italian-Irish couple who call the Irish capital their home. Now full-on hybrid in their sounds, defying genre pigeonholing, Submotile were initially conceived as an ambient, experimental project.
The duo evolved its sound considerably once Daniela began to add vocals to Michael’s guitar experiments, yielding their first proper collaborative track ‘Signs of My Melody’. The well-received debut EP ‘We’re Losing The Light’ followed, gaining the band significant interest in the shoegaze community. This encouraged them to pursue their dream of recording a proper album. ‘Ghosts Fade on Skylines’ is the culmination of nine months of recording – from August 2018 to March 2019.
“We wanted an album that ebbed and flowed, with nine diverse songs that complimented each other without being too different from each other. The idea behind the music is to express the dualism of warmth over hostility, passion over frustration, all these dynamics projected onto a sense of hope and renaissance. I’m not sure if we succeeded, but hopefully it works,” says Daniela Angione.
Recorded and produced by Submotile in their home studio, this album was mastered by Brian Lucey from Magic Garden Mastering, well known for his work with Ringo Deathstarr, Sigur Ros, Liam Gallager, Marilyn Manson, Neko Case and The Black Keys, among others.
“Having quit music in 2009 due to the frustration of never having been able to translate the sounds in my head to tape, ‘Ghosts Fade on Skylines’ was recorded during a wonderful period of rebirth and rejuvenation, a period where I was discovering all the great new music that was out there, whilst simultaneously finding out just how far music production technology had evolved,” explains Michael Farren.
“This evolution allowed us to come that bit closer to the sound in our heads, enabling us to labor over songs, adding hundreds of tracks and experimenting with samples, guitar pedals and tones – many a happy hour was whiled away tracking this music. If someone out there enjoys listening to it a fraction as much as we enjoyed making it, then to me it’ll be a success.”
Submotile’s music is influenced by numerous artists, including My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, Warpaint, Smashing Pumpkins, Massive Attack, Swans, Spiritualized, Sonic Youth, Nirvana, and Stars of the Lid.
Michael Farren adds: “It’s not an understatement to say that we obsessively labored over this album, with most songs having well in excess of 120 tracks (with ‘Winter Storm Sequence’ having 167). The vocal mixing alone on some songs took over six days. We wanted something that lent itself well to headphone listening, creating an immersive experience that reveals new layers on repeat listens, yet hopefully without sounding like an overblown, excessive mess.”
‘Ghosts Fade on Skylines’ is available now for streaming via Spotify and from stores such as iTunes, as well as the duo’s own Bandcamp.
LINKS:
https://submotile.com
https://www.facebook.com/submotile
https://twitter.com/submotile
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_EuA0D1DTO2nz0GcfvqeyA/videos
https://www.instagram.com/submotile16
https://open.spotify.com/artist/28aLk8jR0vvmYWJnPL8Q66
https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/submotile/1369284602
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Holygram – Modern Cults
German post-punk shoegaze outfit Holygram has released their long-awaited debut LP ‘Modern Cults’. Comprised of eleven tracks, this album is now available on CD and double vinyl, as well as digitally via Cleopatra Records. The band also just kicked off their North American tour with one of the biggest electronic bands on the planet, VNV Nation and Charlottesville, VA artist The Rain Within.
Holygram cleverly blends new wave and Krautrock with post-punk and shoegaze to achieve headstrong multi-layered bliss. This is a thoroughly contemporary homage to the sound of the ’80s with a resolute look to the future – the result is driving, dark and catchy.
Earlier, the band teased the singles ‘Signals’ and ‘A Faction’. Two years have passed since the Cologne-based outfit released their self-titled EP.
Produced by Maurizio Baggio, perhaps best known as the producer of The Soft Moon’s ‘Deeper’ and ‘Criminal’ albums, they recorded this LP at Cologne’s Amen Studios.
Holygram is Patrick Blümel (vocals), Sebastian Heer (drums), Marius Lansing (guitars), Pilo Lenger (synthesizers) and Bennett Reimann (bass). Formed in 2015, the band’s approach to making music references the past, while remaining future-oriented. Hard-to-combine elements cleverly come together to become the soundtrack of a city that appears threatening in the twilight.
The new album surrounds themes such as big cities, alienation, and anonymity, hope and memories, love and identity. These reflections interact closely with the band’s unmistakable signature sound. Atmosphere oscillates between the brutal sounds of the big city and the fragility of the people that lose themselves in it – intelligently observed scenarios of a world falling apart in which individuals have long ceased to play a leading role.
Last year, Holygram accompanied British synthpop legends OMD on their European tour and also played numerous festivals, including Mailfeld Derby, Wave-Gotik-Treffen and New Waves Day. Wrapping themselves in dense wafts of mist and cool lighting on stage, they’ve made quite a name for themselves on the live circuit.
‘Modern Cults’ is now available everywhere, including via Cleopatra Records on CD and vinyl, as well as digitally via Bandcamp. The album is out in Europe via Oblivion / SPV.
Holygram will be touring Europe and US/Canada this fall with one of the biggest electronic bands on the planet, VNV Nation.
LINKS:
http://holygram.band
https://www.facebook.com/holygram.official
https://holygram.bandcamp.com
https://www.instagram.com/holygram_band -
Cannibal Animal – Grand Theft Manual
Filled with dystopian rebellion and fueled anarchistic reverence, Cannibal Animal’s weapons come to bear in the form of their new single “Grand Theft Manual”. The song kicks in almost from the get-go with a slight sonic warning from a single clean guitar before the track aurally brutalizes you with a to-the-point anthem for the new #indie. Bravo!
About Cannibal Animal
Having caught the attention of influential blogs Punktastic, Mad Mackerel and Raw Meat, plus local champion of new bands and BBC Introducing DJ, Alan Raw for their track I Feel Alive Hull band Cannibal Animal come with a new release before the Christmas break: Grand Theft Manual – an introduction to their debut 5 track EP Human Manuals to be released in the New Year by fiercely independent label Warren Records.This aggro-punk three-piece have come charging out from the trenches of the Hull music scene, brandishing their instruments like bayonets.
Cannibal Animal’s fuzzed-out, the ferocious sound has seen strong support from the punk community, with their psych-tinged guitar and frenzied vocals causing Punktastic to describe them as ‘the sound of a human breakdown’.
Grand Theft Manual is gripping and energetic as if someone has fed Sonic Youth’s DIY guitar sound into a woodchipper. Jagged riffs and a thrasher bassline seem to sprint from oi-punk to hardcore and back again throughout this three and a half minute aural onslaught.
After successful sets at notable UK venues such as The Shacklewell Arms, New Cross Inn, Rough Trade Nottingham, Camden Lock Tavern and Fulford Arms, Cannibal Animal are poised to take the next step up in their live performances and now that Human Manuals can be enjoyed by us all, it’s only a matter of time before they clatter onto a stage near you.
Cannibal Animal are Luke Ellerington (guitar/vocals), Jamie Hanson (bass) and Thomas Gibbins (drums). Having known each other since early childhood, the band have developed a natural instinct for playing together and in recent years have organically developed their sound into the aggressive powerhouse as seen on the Human Manuals EP.
SOURCE: Official Bio
LINKS:
https://facebook.com/CAnimaluk
https://soundcloud.com/cannibal-animal-1
https://twitter.com/CAnimaluk
https://instagram.com/cannibalanimaluk -
Kannika – I’m Watching You
Kannika was born in the south of Thailand and has since relocated to Nakhon Ratchasima in the northeast.
She has been singing from a very young age and as her career began progress she undertook major residencies in Phuket, Kiri Khan, and Hua Hin.
She currently performs in clubs in and around Nakhon Ratchasima in Northeast Thailand. She cites Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Janis Joplin and Tina Turner as her favorite artists but says her biggest influence on her has always been her mother who encouraged her from a very young age.
LINKS:
https://facebook.com/kannikamusic
https://twitter.com/kannika_music