Sumerian Records has uploaded a full album stream of Periphery's upcoming release "Clear". The album was created as an "experiment" where each member of the band contributed one track which they produced themselves (all of the songs are derived from the album's Overture).
A new project featuring John Frusciante and Omar Rodriguez Lopez has surfaced, Kimono Cult, which also features Teri Gender Bender and Nicole Turley, aswell as Dante White-Aliano and Laena Geronimo, will release their debut EP titled "Hiding In The Light" on March 4th.
Their bandcamp page describes the album as "electro/dub/afro-beat/avant-freak/jazz-like conversations of instrumental ecstasy" and considering the people involved I'm sure we can expect some noise and a lot of experimentation.
Here are the albums I enjoyed the most this year, there are of course others I have only listened to a few times and they might make it into this list later (Kayo Dot, Russian Circles, Red Fang...) but for now, these is my personal selection.
Periphery have announced a new release to kill time while you are waiting for their third LP. The new album features a track created and produced by each of the members of the band, built around a "melodic theme" from the album's intro track.
The album will be released on January 28th, meanwhile you can watch the teaser video to get an idea of what it sounds like as a whole.
Death Grips have received a lot of praise and a lot of hate in the last year and a half, after releasing their landmark album The Money Store in 2012 they went on to cancel a full tour, release the next album for free (which ended their relationship with Epic) and then cancelling another tour, as well as not showing up to a show in Chicago... but what about the music? Well, it's no less chaotic and agressive than their recent approach to label and tour obligations.
While their previous three albums featured MC Ride prominently, Government Plates (which was released for free and to the complete surprise of their fans) is much more experimental, spacey and electronic. Only a few songs feature Ride regularly, while most are majorly instrumental or feature just a few lines or samples that give personality to the wall of noise and electronic beats behind.
Government Plates is a short, agressive and psychedelic journey that feels like listening to rap on a variety of drugs.
From the short, fast paced, electronic bubbling track "Big House" to the crawling glitch-hop of "I'm Overflow" and finally the impressive wall-of-noise behemoth "Whatever I Want (Fuck Who's Watching)" the album has a lot of variety to offer in it's 35 minutes. From Ride's in-your-face-verbal-abuse shouting/rapping, to Zach Hill's frenetic beats to Andy Morin's electronic sweeps and heavy synth riffs the album has it's own personality and shows a new "progressive" face of the californian band.
There's no doubt Death Grips have a lot of personality both in the studio and outside of it, and they still have a lot to offer musically.
Death Grips have once again surprised everyone by releasing another free album. "Government Plates" features 11 songs with a total lenght of 35 minutes. The album can be downloaded here and here, or streamed through Soundcloud. Is Death Grips becoming the Omar Rodriguez-Lopez of experimental hip hop? I guess we'll have to wait and see...
Progressive-metal band CYNIC have announced the release of the long awaited follow up to 2008's Traced in Air. The album, titled Kindly Bent To Free Us will be released on Valentine's Day next year.
Drummer Sean Reinert had previously commented on the album, saying: "It's a bold new sound for CYNIC and marks a gigantic leap in the band's progression.".
