Fascinating duo THE CHRONICLES OF MANIMAL AND SAMARA featuring Andrea Papi (music composition, keyboard, electric bass, guitar) and Daphne Ang (lyricist and vocals) does not stop to impress. Turn Up The Volume already named them “the most intriguing find of the year” after previous singles Deus Ex Machina and Psychopath’s Monologue. And their new spacey piece confirms that nomination.
MATA HARI – meaning sun in Malay language – is a slowdown trip-hop trip with a relaxing repercussion on your worried 2020 thoughts, an ambient soundscape for the midnight hours. British 90s dance act Leftfield came instantly to my mind, especially that tipsy track
on their debut LP called Original with the sensual ex-Curve‘s singer Toni Halliday.
TCOMAS continue their otherworldly wanderings combining fascinating poetry with
equally fascinating vibrations. Imaginative, adventurous and ghostly. Don’t miss them…
Ps: just like many of you out there I also thought
when seeing the title of this track that it was about
that legendary dancer and double-secret spy called Mata Hari
A swirling fusion of rhapsodic rippers and cool crackerjacks,
that activated my bloodstream and my limbs this past month! Turn Up The Volume‘s 15 Knockout Tracks for September!
‘Under The Spell Of Joy’ by DEATH VALLEY GIRLS (Los Angeles, US)
L.A.’s garage devils surprise with this gospel stunner. Polyphonic choir, booming beats, crazed sax, towering tune, and a mental finale. The title track from their fourth album coming your way this Friday, October 2. Can’t wait!
‘So What’ by MEMES(Glasgow, Scotland)
Post-punk mavericks strike again. This new cut is more infectious than that horrible coronavirus, deeper carving than a Swiss knife, 103 seconds of high-energy swagger.
New EP in November via Fierce Panda.
. ‘The Rise And Fall Of America’ by THE MOODS(England)
It’s this British collective’s towering take on the bombastic American National Anthem with razor-sharp lines and an addictive chant. They rock, roar and rage. Enough is enough! Play this on repeat until the elections in November. Make America, America again. It’s not too late! Vote that orange out!
‘American Dream’ by TOKYO TABOO (England)
‘Dumb Trump’ is the loud and clear message. These high-voltage noiseniks squeeze that orange idiot into pulp in 4 minutes and visualize their disgust with both a hilarious and frightening video clip. About time this buffoon gets kicked out of the White House!
‘Leon The Pig Farmer’ by CABBAGE (England)
These post-punk gunslingers describe their racket as Apocalyptic Sprautrock. Sounds
totally 2020 to my ears. This new amazeballs brain-breaker races like a hot rod on
the run without slowing down for a second. Bang-up stonker!
‘Psychopath’s Monologue’ by THE CHRONICLES OF MANIMAL AND SAMARA (It/Sing)
A soundtrack for an unmade David Lynch movie. Chemical bros beats, Leftfield bangs, industrial uppercuts and a nightmarish spoken-word sermon all over it. Sonic paranoia
for a baffled world in an ongoing virus crisis. Doomsday is just around the corner.
‘Tokyo Music Experience’ by RATS ON RAFTS (The Netherlands)
An electrical punch-sucker driven by hyperkinetic guitars, manic vocals, and a relentless beat sounding like legendary weirdos Devo are back with some fervent firepower. Expect to be totally puzzled after just one spin. You can get satisfaction here, folks!
‘Land Based Antics’ by STRUGGLES WITH SYNTAX (London)
A rage-against-the-machine motherrocker, a smash and clash crossover stormer, a
nasty rap brain-breaker, a brutal thwack challenging you to bang your head against
the wall while pulling your hair out. A volcanic spit and sneer eruption.
‘Moment In The Sun’ by SUNFLOWER BEAN (Brooklyn/NY)
Perfect pop play! Catchy as hell, totally uplifting and mood-boosting. Funky and groovy.
An earworm to listen to in your bath, in your car, at work, in the pub, and in your bed.
‘Truth II’ by BEND SINISTER (Vancouver, British Columbia)
A rambling, rumbling, rollicking and roaring ripsnorter with a scream along on the top of your lungs chorus demanding the truth. C’mon Bully Trump and Boris the Clown, stop
lying 24/7, you twin idiots.
‘7 Seconds’ by PORRIDGE RADIO (Brighton, England)
Earlier this year this amazing Dana Margolin fronted band released their contender-for-best-album-of-the-year tour de force Every Bad, they shine again on this brand new melodic humdinger.
‘Docker Martins’ by ARCO ARENA (Ireland)
A riff-loaded crackerjack that triggers your Saturday nightmare fever moves. Funky as
fuck and sickly sticky from start to finish. A kick-ass hammer sharp as a serrated knife challenging you to fight for your right to be the last man standing. Yeahhh!
‘Serotonin‘ by VIOLENT VICKIE (Long Beach, CA)
Put your Goth outfit, dim the lights, and trip on this pitch-black synthscape with
Vickie wildly yearning for lost love and lust. You’ll get goosebumps when listening
to this petrifying cry out on your headphones. Time to kick your evil demons out
of your bedroom!
‘We Are Chaos’ by MARILYN MANSON (Ohio, US)
Yes, the self-proclaimed ‘God of Fuck’ still walks the planet. No, he didn’t move yet
to his real home in hell. And the title track is a massive sing-along pop (yes, ‘pop’)
anthem celebrating what we became: CHAOS in these surreal virus times.
‘Cotton Fish (A Dream)’ by JAY CRAFTON (Toronto, Canada)
Don’t really know much about this Canadian musician and record producer just that his new (instrumental) single is a spellbinding guitar-driven jam with a relaxing effect on my mindset. Pretty special. Pretty dreamy.
Only last week Turn Up The Volume‘s ears got totally impressed when discovering Apocalypse Now bombshell called Psychopath’s Monologue by enigmatic duo THE CHRONICLES OF MANIMAL AND SAMARA featuring Andrea Papi (music composition, keyboard, electric bass, guitar) and Daphne Ang (lyricist and vocals).
Without a shout of a doubt my most intriguing find of the year. Combining ancient
spoken-word poetry and a king-sized metallic resonance you just can’t be puzzled.
Their new tenebrific single DEUS EX MACHINA, inspired by Shakespearean sonnets
and the lyrical poetry of Ancient Greece, tells the story of Oedipus Rex and man’s
perennial struggle between fate and free will.
It’s another stunning piece of ominous sound and vision. Ang‘s haunting sermon is surrounded by a wall-of-hellish-rollercoaster sound. Black Sabbath drones propelled
by bewildering guitars going forth and back, moving in mysterious ways. Fascinating!
Five new firecrackers to bang-up your favorite 48 hours…
‘Wonderful Hell’ by WAR ON WOMEN
Two years after their smashing LP Capture The Flag the Baltimore hardcore fanatics announced a new longplayer, out next month. Lead-single ‘Wonderful Hell’ is a metallic bang-up cry out for a better world. Stop the fascist creeeeep, let’s raise some hell is the muscled message. Time to act before the monster gets YOU!
‘Psychopath’s Monologue’ by THE CHRONICLES OF MANIMAL AND SAMARA
This is what happens when Mr Hyde turns up at midnight at your bed and scares
the shit out of you with some creepy stories while he dances around your bedroom
like a deranged maniac to this industrialized techno outburst.
. ‘Mirror’ by HEY COLOSSUSfeat. MARK LANEGAN (UK/US)
This collaborative song is a pitch-black slow moving serpent. Creepy, ominous
and enigmatic. A fitting piece for the twilight hours and for Lanegan‘s devilish voice.
New album Dances/Curses out 20 November. All info here.
‘Hell’s Teeth’ by PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS (Newcastle, UK)
Newcastle’s pig punch punks dropped an animated video clip for their newest
smack from their third album Viscerals. Expect a paranoid Black Sabbath drone.
‘Berlin’ by A CERTAIN RATIO (Manchester, UK)
Another electronic stomper from Manchester’s funky post-punk heroes’ upcoming
LP ACR LOCO, their first in twelve years. It features the wonderful voice of Denise
Johnson who sadly passed away last July.
THE CHRONICLES OF MANIMAL AND SAMARA (brilliant name) is a most
intriguing darkwave duo featuring Andrea Papi (Italy) and Samara (Singapore).
With their new electrotastic jackhammer PSYCHOPATH’S MONOLOGUE they take you
on a demonic Odyssey without looking back. Slowly but surely the duo heads towards
a hellish place, called Apocalypse 2020 for a fire and brimstone treatment. It all starts enigmatically with Samara reciting her Dante’s Inferno inspired poem in a haunting
foreplay tone.
When speed and decibels go up all hell breaks loose. Chemical bros beats, Leftfield bangs and industrial uppercuts take over. It’s time now to party like it’s 1999 all over again to a paranoid sound of a perplexed world in virus crisis. And when the orgastic finale kicks in you know that Doomsday is just around the corner.
(Promo image via artist)
