Istidraj
The nice thing about black metal is that it’s so hard for it to be co-opted. Between its often extreme ideologies and its inherently abrasive sound, it’s hard to imagine anyone trying to sell you a pair of sneakers with it. Even as some bands like Dimmu Borgir and Cradle of Filth have wormed their way into the mainstream, the vast majority of black metal fans and bands out there are happy to stay in the filthy pits of the underground. A prime example of such a band is Singapore’s Istidraj. These guys prove that prohibiting chewing gum and banning Beatles songs really don’t make people more passive and well-behaved. These guys make metal so freaking harsh, it’ll make even the most hardened hescher’s knees buckle. This is what punk was supposed to be about.
Tagged: death metal, Singapore
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San Diego death metal band Cattle Decapitation are a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine. Their schtick is pretty silly — they are anti-human vegetarians who pound out grinding, churning, vomitous songs about mankind getting its comeuppance (I can’t help but chuckle at song titles like Bukkake Tsunami). While fans of ultra-technical metal may look down their noses at these guys, the couple times I’ve seen them, they’ve been loads of fun, with frontman Travis Ryan convulsing and spitting like an epileptic in Times Square. Their latest album, The Harvest Floor, is their heaviest and most technically proficient yet, and while they may still be too silly for the metal elite, anyone who wants a good, entertaining slab of brutality should check them out.
Meshuggah are a much better band recorded than live, at least based on the only time I saw them a couple years ago when they were touring in support of Catch 33. But it’s hard to deny that their albums kick a lot of ass. Their latest video for the song Bleed off last year’s obZen is pretty intense, too.
Strip away the cookie monster vocals and downtuned, distorted guitars, it’s hard to imagine death metal still reading as death metal, but 8-bit duo Dr. Zilog manage to do just that. The Floridian sound-card tweakers make some pretty amazing original, NES tunes that are strangely compelling, catchy, and actually quite metal.
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Canadian artist Brandon Jan Blommeart’s trash monsters lumber across beautiful landscapes, happily playing with each other as if they had inherited the earth from their human creators. Read more
MC Ren had a good run in the ’90s, penning the N.W.A. hits Just Don’t Bite It and She Swallowed It and performing with the gangster rap legends after Ice Cube left. His debut album, Kizz My Black Azz, went platinum, and though he sustained moderate success through the remainder of the ’90s, Ren hasn’t released a record in more than a decade, likely due to his conversion to the Nation of Islam. This year, however, the once foul-mouthed rapper is due to release Renincarnation, his fifth studio album.
Brooklyn neofolk group Cult of Youth
My band shared a bill with Brooklyn neofolk outfit Cult of Youth when we opened for ex-Swans vocalist/keyboardist Jarboe. Though Cult of Youth can trace their lineage to bands like Death in June and Sol Invictus, frontman Sean Ragon’s almost screeching vocals and punkish songwriting made me think of the Pogues, which is a good thing. Unlike most other acts of this genre, Ragon and the constantly shifting roster of his live band have a less severe demeanor, making them rather more fun to watch.
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The Cars frontman Ric Ocasek will debut his first solo art exhibition, Noise Colored Party, at the Mahan Gallery, in Columbus on March 6. The two-month exhibition will feature his artwork from the 1980s onwards and includes drawings with pen, colored pencils and markers, digital photo collages and mixed media paintings.
Anyone who thinks black metal is too rigid and narrow a genre to have room for innovation would do well to check out Lifelover, a Swedish band that defies every convention of black metal while still remaining miraculously kvlt. The sextet wafts between languid, hallucinatory grooves that channel Iggy Pop and latter-day Cure to unhinged freak-outs that sound as if they’re emanating from the deepest, coldest forests of Norway.
I always loved the powerful drawings of Benjamin Guedel, but didn’t enjoy browsing his website. Now he has a new easy to navigate site, so I can share his work with those unlucky ones who haven’t seen his drawing skills yet. Read more
Face Your Pockets encourages you to empty your pockets out onto a copier, put your face down on the glass (eyes closed), press the green button, and then post the results on their website. It’s fun people! It’s also a great way to weird-out your co-workers.
Sparks’ album Kimono My House is a demented mix of hard rock, pop, glam, new wave, and baroque pop. Why this record never caught on in the States I’ll never know. The songs will get stuck in your head and prevent you from sleeping. Oh yeah, and the keyboard player has a nice mustache too, as evidenced by this track above — This Town Ain’t Big Enough.
While the Belizean Islands are some of the most beautiful and tranquil in the world, Belize City is one of those uninspiring places that most people travel in and out of very quickly. However, if you do find yourself stranded there, as I did, the city does have one redeeming attraction. Approximately twenty kilometres west of the centre, you’ll find the Belize Zoo — which the founders call the ‘best little zoo in the world’. It relies on charitable donations and has gained huge respect for housing native Belizean wildlife, such as jaguars, howler monkeys, tapirs, ocelots and toucans, in natural, tropical surroundings. If you’re there on the first Friday in April, you can even join hundreds of visitors in celebrating the birthday of the zoo’s resident tapir, April. The zoo has an awesome rasta-vibe, and the hand-written information posts are guaranteed to make you giggle.
Ninety percent of the time, you can pick a Scandinavian brand from a metric mile away, which is not necessarily a bad thing considering that the Scands have such a refined, clean approach to thinking about clothes. Read more
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I’m a sucker for just about anything to do with printmaking. UK illustrator Jonny Hannah makes a very strong case. Busy, colorful, spontaneous and brimming with inspiration, THIS is the stuff amazing is made of. Read more
Muraida, Radioactive Green Edition
This wicked new villain, Muraida, from the OSK line is a 10 inch vinyl with six points of articulation. It comes in a combination of solid and clear vinyl, and is packed with more punch than a thousand GI Joe’s.
Design collectives can often be a mess, only bound together by a splash page and a few lines of text. Lie-ins and Tigers are without a doubt one of the most unified collectives and one of my favourites. Sam Kerr, Walter Newton and Russell Weekes may all have their own sites and services, but in collaboration, the humour and design intention remains remarkably unified. Read more
Produced by In The Yellow, this six and half inch tall vinyl toy by Luke Chueh is limited to just one hundred pieces and comes in clear colorway with silver eyes.
Edgar Muller’s three-dimensional street art
Some people are talented, others are just truly remarkable. German artist Edgar Muller makes these three-dimensional apocalyptic fantasy street art in cities across the world. His work is reminiscent of that of English artist, Julian Beever. Read more
Legendary pop culture artist and Agit Pop founder Ron English will be a guest compiler of an upcoming issue of our email newsletter, writing about his favorite cultural discoveries. To read Ron’s edition of Lost At E Minor, simply sign up to our weekly newsletter. It’s free, you win!
The Plus One t shirt by New York designer Ryan Sullivan is printed by hand, one at a time, using a dye-based print and printed on cotton/poly blend tees. Size is true to fit.
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Caleb said | 14 August, 2008
Fukin’ a’ it’s about you hip me to something worth listening to!;)