Julianna Barwick’s musical style lies somewhere between the collective voice of a choir and what the ghost of a pod of whales might sound like. Consisting of loops and wordless vocalizations that recall a higher-pitched cousin of throat singing, it’s a decidedly unique listening experience.
Q&A: The Casket Lottery’s unsung reunion yields louder, denser indie-rock gem
The Casket Lottery: Real Fear (No Sleep, 11/6/12)
“In the Branches”
The Casket Lottery: “In the Branches”
Following a four-year hiatus from 2006–2010, Kansas City’s The Casket Lottery was reanimated by front-man Nathan Ellis and expanded from its power-trio core to a quintet. The two new members gave the melodic post-hardcore band an even greater musical arsenal, as shown on Real Fear — its first studio LP in 10 years — which continues its legacy as one of the most underrated groups in “indie music.”
Watch Jello Biafra fronting Spindrift’s Western psych jams
Spindrift: Classic Soundtracks Vol. 1 (Xemu, 5/10/11)
Western-influenced psych-rock band Spindrift has been on the road for a quasi-eternity, including a ghost-town tour last year, to bring its cinematic, reverberated tunes to a town near you.
The band already is back on the road, but its final stop last month was at San Francisco’s Brick & Mortar Music Hall, where former Dead Kennedys vocalist (and former presidential candidate) Jello Biafra got on stage for a pair of songs. Biafra’s dramatic vibratos and half-spoken delivery are a surprisingly great fit.
Freezing beauty: Watch Cult of Luna perform acoustic “Passing Through” in Helsinki blizzard
Cult of Luna: Vertikal (Density, 1/29/13)
Swedish post-metal band Cult of Luna only debuted the official video for album closer “Passing Through” last month, but it has already filmed a follow-up. And it might outdo the official video for sheer impressiveness and beauty.
Interview: Rotting Christ’s quest for ancient knowledge
Rotting Christ: Kata Ton Daimona Eaytoy (Season of Mist, 3/5/13)
“In Yumen / Xibalba”
Rotting Christ: “In Yumen / Xibalba”
Of the 11 songs on the latest Rotting Christ release, Kata Ton Daimona Eaytoy, it’s the one that opens with a fluttering piano and the spellbinding voice of Souzana Vougioukli that band leader Sakis Tolis “want(s) to believe is the darkest.” Vougioukli and her sister Eleni — a globetrotting world-music duo — hold the reins on “Cine iubeşte şi lasă” for more than two tense minutes before the Grecian black-metal veterans swarm for an ominous march through Romanian folklore. By the end of the song — a reworked traditional piece based on a Transylvanian curse — the collaborators have come together like a fiery black mass.