METZ – Sonic City Festival – De Kreun, Kortrijk – Friday 10 November 2017
Yesterday was the first day of the 3-day indoor Sonic City Festival in Kortrijk, Belgium.
A rollicking nirvana for alternative music curated this year by legend Thurston Moore (featuring acts such as Moon Duo, Liars, Sun Kill Moon, Pharmakon, Steve Gunn, Wire,
The Soft Moon, Olimpia Splendid, Ut, The Ex and many more). Artists are limited in time when playing festivals, but for Canadian noiseniks METZ it worked perfectly on opening night. Forty transfixing minutes of non-stop riff-o-rama, smashing drums and crushing bass drones while frontman Alex Edkins screaming at the top of his lungs as a demonic bedlamite. LOUD and CLEAR. A hammering experience, without rhythm breaking pauses. The three-headed Toronto engine creates a deafening trance you just cannot withstand. Uppercut after uppercut delivered with an ear-splitting volume of cracking decibels while the band is surrounded by a smoke screen adding an extra obfuscatory component to the exorcistic happening. Eleven knockouts selected from their three longplayers. Here’s the powerhouse set reproduced on Spotify…
Texan psychedelic collective THE BLACK ANGELS released this year – to my ears – their best album so far. DEATH SONG (named after a song on The Velvet Underground’s 1967 debut LP). is a gloomy work dealing with today’s bleak times wrapped in an ardent and invigorating soundtrack. Here’s one of the highlights performed intimately in the tiny Paste Studios in New York City earlier this year. Pretty cool…
Sonic havoc that thrills us in a way we want to scream out loud…
THE MEDICINE DOLLS are special for several reasons. One: They sound like the nasty The Cramps having a sonic fight with blues freaks The White Stripes. Two: unlike the two aforementioned bands The Dolls do not care about a career plan, because they obviously
hate long-term bullshit, marketing sharks, and all related stress. Three: their primal punk screams come straight from the inside, honest and in your face. Four: in a world where everybody wants to rule everybody on this doomed planet they just want to get rid of
their nasty demons. Five: they look awesome, they sound awesome and they are for real. Six: their newest ripper is ace. Here’s TAKE THE BITTER WITH THE BETTER….
FILTHY FRIENDS is a fantabulous supergroup featuring Sleater-Kinney’s fervent vox Corin Tucker and R.E.M.’s Peter Buck as the most famous members. Last summer they released their blustery debut album ‘Invitation’ filled with fired-up punk rock energy. Here’s one of the rowdy ones ‘THE ARRIVAL’, performed for Radio KEXP in Seattle. Here we go, turn up the heat…
Vibes that thrill us in a way we want to scream out loud…
THE GALAXY ELECTRIC is not your average musical duo. They have a fascination for exploring unknown, sonic territories from the past using psychedelic pop space vibrations as a tool that makes you feel relaxed in a transcendental, illusory way. Augustus Green, a self-taught sound engineer, mans the static-emitting machines while Jacqueline Caruso‘s lounge-inspired vocal machinations float all over it. The puzzling and dreamlike title track of their brand new EP TOMORROW WAS BETTER YESTERDAY is a cinematic and intriguing experience of their new 6-track EP. Imagine a James Bond movie soundtrack composed by Aphex Twin. Weird, but very tantalizing. Discover the wondrous symphony here…
The band about the clip: “In this video, we explore what remains of the past’s vision of
the future at the site of the 1964 World’s Fair in Queens, New York, through the lens of
space travelers who have only just returned to Earth expecting to find flying cars and all
the innovations the Fair promised for the 21st Century. The director, Jen Meller, filmed
on Super 8 with a single roll using only in-camera effects and no edits.”
I guess we’re all in the spiritual mood now to encounter today’s
brand new released EP. Stream/purchase it here on Bandcamp…
They look quite normal, but just like me you’ll have your doubts on hearing the menacing havoc produced by this aberrant Portuguese duo, called SUNFLOWERS. I’m pretty sure that they hide their real names – Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde – in order to avoid trouble with crazed shrinks and far-out alienist. Actually, after some research I found out that the two lovely people in the picture on top were kidnapped a while ago by our two-headed monster in order to entertain them with psycho-neurotic hullabaloo, like it’s Halloween every single day of the bloody year. Listen to brand new single CASTLE SPELL and you’ll understand exactly what I mean. It’s a hypnotic jam, a barbed wire bolide, a spellbinding escapade pushed by a red-hot drum beat and fueled with firework guitars. Striking garage wizardry for outlaws and desperadoes. Prepare yourself for a tumultuous ride, press the button and release the bats…
All Music wrote: “David Bowie has never been shy about acknowledging his influences,
and since the boho decadence and sexual ambiguity of the Velvet Underground’s music had a major impact on Bowie’s work, it was only fitting that as Ziggy Stardust mania was reaching its peak, Bowie would offer Lou Reed some much-needed help with his career, which was stuck in neutral after his first solo album came and went. Musically, Reed’s work didn’t have too much
in common with the sonic bombast of the glam scene, but at least it was a place where his eccentricities could find a comfortable home, and on ‘Transformer’ Bowie and his right-hand man, Mick Ronson, crafted a new sound for Reed that was better fitting (and more commercially astute) than the ambivalent tone of his first solo album. While Reed occasionally overplays his hand in writing stuff he figured the glam kids wanted (like “Make Up” and “I’m So Free”), “Perfect Day,” “Walk on the Wild Side,” and “New York Telephone Conversation” proved he could still write about the demimonde with both perception and respect.”
Turn Up The Volume! says: one of his very best ever, featuring three of his outstanding, timeless classics (below). Music for the midnight hour with a top bottle of red Bordeaux at hand…
Three top tracks: Walk On The Wild Side / Satellite Of Love / Perfect Day…
* WALK ON THE WILD SIDE – imperishable diamond…
* SATELLITE OF LOVE – mesmeric beauty…
* PERFECT DAY – magnificent 2003 live rendition (with Antony Hegarty)
LAS COBRAS is an invigorating and adventurous psychedelic duo. A pair of mind-intoxicating musicians. Their intriguing debut album TEMPORAL is just one of the most beguiling and one of the coolest debut longplayers of the year in my best-of-2017-book.
As Sofía Aguerre and Leandro Rebella hail from Canelones, Uruguay they inject their musical vision on psychedelia with lysergic sounds of South-America, therefore they’re different from the rest of the pack. Sensual and menacing at the same time. A fascinating mixture of far-out electronics, glimmering guitars and atmospheric vocals. Sonically they explore the past and the present in order to create spellbinding vibrations for the future. Their exciting path is colored with Afro-beats and tropical waves and leave you, at the end of their magical and mysterious journey, in a bewitching trance. Let’s meet the snakes, starting with this audiovisual introduction…
Hello Sofia and Leandro…
LAS COBRAS in English means ‘The Snakes’. Should we be scared?
“A Cobra is a very poisonous snake, so you should be scared yes, haha. The name of the
band came up when we were listening and dancing to the title song of our first album ‘Temporal’, and we felt like we were dancing like a snake would do, wagging and moving
to the sound of music.”
Do you have to make choices about the language you use for your lyrics
to communicate with your homeland fans?
“Most of the music we listen to is in English, so it was an organic and natural decision to sing most songs in that language, although there are two songs in Spanish. We do not really care about the language, we let ourselves be carried away by the song and let the song decide for us.”
‘Temporal’, the title track of your debut album, hit me on first hearing. It sounds like mind-elevating music from an exotic galaxy. What is the song actually about?
“It’s not about something in particular, it’s about a feeling maybe, it’s about that nothing really matters much, not being afraid and going through with everything. The day we recorded that
song there was a big storm outside so we were refugees in our recording room while we were composing that song. The literal translation of ‘Temporal’ would be a ‘great storm’, so the song talks about going through the storm, letting it get you through and follow it until you’re free.”
. Do you inject your songs with original Uruguayan music and how does it sound like?
The place where we live influences us and affects a lot, Uruguayan music is based very much on the rhythm and the cadence, especially the Candombe that is an African rhythm that is played a lot in the streets of our city. There´s a lot of great bands down here, for
us the best era of Uruguayan music was the sixties and seventies, bands like El Kinto, Los Shakers, Los Mockers, Totem, Días de Blues and Eduardo Mateo, you have to check them out. There are really good ones nowadays too, Color Horror, Hablan por la Espalda, Los Nuevos Creyentes, Cadáver Exquisito.
Does Uruguay has a vibrant rock scene?
“I can’t say that there’s even a rock scene, there are really good bands, but there´s not so many places to play, so it’s hard to keep you motivated, but making music and playing with
our friends is the best motivation we have.”
I’m intrigued by the cover of the album? Does the psychedelic artwork
has a specific connection with the music?
“The art was created by Sofia, and of course it has a direct connection with the music: psychedelic waves crushing the shore. But it could lead to thousands of interpretations. Sometimes a color, a form, a shape tells you more about a feeling than an actual
picture, and I think that this is the case here.”
Artwork debut album TEMPORAL…
LAS COBRAS sounds like a full orchestra at times.
How do you generate that impactful sound?
“Leandro takes care of the basses and the guitars and Sofia of the synthesizers and the maracas, and between the two we are in charge of the sequences, the melodies and the
structures of the songs. Sometimes we ask help from our friends, especially with the percussion. We usually compose and record at the same time, so we go layer by layer
adding different instruments until we see that the song does not need anything else.
We don’t have any fancy gear, a couple of guitars, a synth, a midi controller and that’s it,
limitation is the key I guess.”
What music did you listen to before or while recording the album?
“A lot, we listen to a lot of music. Back then, when writing and recording, we were listening to Suicide, Caetano Veloso, the Tropicalia movement, Moon Duo, Primal Scream, Spacemen 3, BJM, hip-hop, Ethiopian and African music.”
SUICIDE legends: an inspiration…
How do you manage to reproduce your ‘full’ sound on stage?
“When we play live we’re a five-piece band, it´s hard to recreate the music
all by ourselves, so we ask our friends to play with us.”
What movie would you choose to visualize your music on a
big screen when playing a show?
“Documentaries about nature and animals.”
Any rituals before starting a gig?
“There is nothing in particular, it always changes depending on the environment
and the different stimuli that we have.”
Who’s your number one artist/band to go on a world tour with?
“Oh, going on tour with the Primal Scream would be really fun, they seem to be the kind
of people who like to party and know how to have a great time, haha…”
Primal Scream & Las Cobras – I just love the idea…
Vinyl, cassette or compact disc?
“Vinyl, the size, the whole ritual of playing music on vinyl is incomparable
with any other format.”
Social media: a blessing or a pain in the ass?
“It depends. For us it has been a great tool to meet people who have helped us to promote
our music, it will always depend on how you use it and what your intentions are.”
Who you really love to jam with?
“Anton Newcombe is a great reference for us, musically but also in how to approach music, with no boundaries or limitations, playing with him would almost be a dream come true.”
Anton Newcombe – psychedelia expert…
Best album you heard so far this year?
” ‘Our Mother Was A Plant’ by JUJU.’
The Black Angels or The Brian Jonestown Massacre?
“The Brian Jonestown Massacre all the way, we really like The Black Angels too, but the Jonestown are a really important band for us, we saw them last year in Buenos Aires twice and they were incredible.”
The Velvet Underground or Pink Floyd?
“The Velvet Underground. I think it has more similarities with our sound, and we start hanging out as a couple the day that Lou Reed died, so that has to mean something, right?”
Any chance of seeing you soon in Europe for some shows?
“We want to go there next year, it’s not easy for a South American band to tour that far.
It would a dream come true for us.”
What can we expect from LAS COBRAS in 2018?
“Hopefully a new album, and a tour!”
What’s the band’s ultimate dream?
“Keep playing and keep having fun while playing, buy the ticket and enjoy the ride.”
Many thanks to Sofia and Leandro for the Q & A. May the road rise with LAS COBRAS…
Turn off the lights, relax and embrace the full journey…
