Monthly Archives: October 2017

[MUSIC REVIEW] Mivart Storkower by TEAMGEIST

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TEAMGEIST
Mivart Storkower
Environmental Studies / Ancre Music
March 2017

TEAMGEIST is a music collective featuring a rotating cast of musicians from all over the world who come together to record an improvised album. Mivart Storkower is the collective’s second freeform instrumental release recorded over the span of five days in Berlin and Bristol.

Each track has a soul of its own and are collaborations with TEAMGEIST creator, Maximillan Markowsky, who appears on all of the album’s 10 tracks. Portishead bass played, Jim Barr, makes several appearances as well as French electronic violinist Agathe Max, Guy Metcalfe, Christos Kollias, and Paul Pollinger.

Track seven “Marzahn” features Kiran Gandhi and is one of two tracks that includes anything that bears the closest resemblance to vocals as hypnotic, warped echos throughout the song, bearing resemblance to the vocal cadence of Portland-based trio Explode Into Colors.

Readers may be familiar with Gandhi’s own electronic project, Madame Gandhi, as well as drumming for M.I.A, her work as an activist (she ran the London Marathon while menstruating sans tampon to raise awareness for women’s health) and a long time supporter of Tom Tom Magazine.

Listen to this for moments of introspection, relaxation, and creative processing.

teamgeist.com

This review was originally published in Tom Tom Magazine Issue #30 (June 2017)

[MUSIC REVIEW] Eyeball Under by Weeping Icon

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WEEPING ICON
Eyeball Under
Fire Talk / Kanine Records
July 2017

Eyeball Under is the first EP from Brooklyn four-piece Weeping Icon (members of ADVAETA, Lutkie, Mantismass, Warcries, Water Temples). The album’s eight songs are carried by a solid foundation of steady drums and hypnotic bass with layers of thrashing cymbals and guitars interspersed with shrill noise and shouted statements of anxiety-ridden internal monologues covering topics like STDs, religion, and street harassment.

Halfway through the album, “Inauguration” takes a moment to hold space for anger and grief; a trembling guitar, a shriek to a guttural scream, the dreadful anticipation of dark times. The second untitled track provides a 55-second meditative break towards the closing of the album to recollect ourselves; a sounding call to channel our inner strength to fight back against the things that oppress us the most.

Eyeball Under is a quick 23 minute punch in the face that culminates in a flurry covered in the thick residue of a powerful primal transformation.

Listen to this to release your inner rage.

weepingicon.bandcamp.com

This review was originally published in Tom Tom Magazine Issue #31 (September 2017)