Now on its eighth iteration, Southern California’s Sound and Fury Festival is bringing together another 60+ bands that are making awesome music in hardcore and beyond. As the fest’s exclusive media sponsor, ALARM is proud to announce this year’s initial confirmations, including Tragedy, Bane, The Ghost Inside, Strife, Loma Prieta, and many more.
Video: A lingering connection in Free Moral Agents’ “Chaine Infinie”
Free Moral Agents: Chaine Infinie EP (Neurotic Yell, 4/16/13)
Going on three years without new material, the multifaceted Free Moral Agents — led by former Mars Volta keyboardist Isaiah “Ikey” Owens — has released the hypnotic and concise first single from its Chaine Infinie EP, which comes out next week.
Speaking to a relationship that lives on despite its seeming conclusion (“It doesn’t matter where you go, because I know you; I’m in your mind”), the smoky, bare-bones, black-and-white video is a two-minute closeup of singer Mendee Ichikawa. Watch and enjoy.
No letting go: Shining’s sci-fi catharsis in “I Won’t Forget” video
Shining: One One One (Prosthetic / Universal Norway, 5/28/13)
The first video from Shining’s One One One is here, and it’s a sci-fi catharsis of one man’s lasting pain. Directed by Kyrre Larsen, “I Won’t Forget” is a blistering dose of metallic, whirring, jazz-tinged riff rock. Watch it below and mark your calendars for May 28.
Love and confliction: Watch John Parish’s film-score mash-up
John Parish: Screenplay (Thrill Jockey, 4/16/13)
Producer, film scorer, and PJ Harvey collaborator John Parish has a busy April, with three releases that he produced being released on different labels. But his most important April release is his own, Screenplay, a collection of soundtrack work for short and feature-length films.
Han Solo…in carbonite…on a guitar
Ben Moody, front-man of We Are the Fallen and formerly of Evanescence (we know; you don’t have to say it), is a bit of a Star Wars fan. So when friends were shopping around for a proper gift and came across the work of customizer Travis Stevens and his Millennium Falcon guitar, they knew they had to commission a custom piece.
Dessa, Dan Deacon, Sharon Van Etten, Brokeback to play Chicago’s free downtown concert series
Chicago has announced the artists for its free summer concert series in Millennium Park, Downtown Sound and Loops and Variations. Clear your Mondays and Thursdays.
Meshuggah’s “I Am Colossus” video is a twitchy, soul-removing nightmare
Meshuggah: Koloss (Nuclear Blast, 3/27/12)
It’s been a little over a year since the blast of atomic rage that is Meshuggah’s Koloss, and things haven’t slowed down for the band. In addition to touring at home and overseas, the band has dropped a video for “I Am Colossus,” and it’s a reality-twisting piece of stop-motion animation that simultaneously evokes Tim Burton and Tool‘s entire music-video catalog.
A murderous MacGuffin in Efterklang’s “The Ghost” video
Efterklang: Piramida (4AD, 9/25/12)
Having recorded Piramida in a ghost town, its perhaps unsurprising that one of the tracks on Efterklang‘s fourth album was entitled “The Ghost.” A droning composition with bells, brass, and an echoing percussive background, it’s reminiscent of some of the more ambient work of groups like Underworld and Radiohead, which is to say that it’s unique and beautiful.