Four people sit in a cabin on the seashore, with light coming in through one window and hastily nailed boards over the other apertures. A greenish glow, the only hint of electricity, comes from an instrument that has an opaque purpose. Everyone seems to be waiting for something.
“Ice Age,” the new video from How to Destroy Angels’ An Omen EP, directed by John Hillcoat (The Proposition, The Road, Lawless), is a bleak affair. Minimalist at first, both in scope and music,the song soon makes it clear that time is running out.
Siblings Natalie and Elliot Bergman (also of Nomo) are the duo behind Wild Belle, whose sultry, funky dub pop picked up buzz after the band’s stint at this year’s SXSW. Now, after a deal with Columbia, the Chicago-based group is preparing its major-label debut, Isles, to be delivered early in 2013.
Comprised of Trent Reznor, wife Mariqueen Maandig, and collaborators Atticus Ross and Rob Sheridan, How to Destroy Angels has released the dark electronic number “Keep it Together” from its forthcoming An Omen EP.
Indie-rock heavyweight The Shins has recruited Emmy Award-winning director/animator Jamie Caliri to interpret “The Rifle’s Spiral,” a track off the band’s latest album, Port of Morrow.
The video below — also available for 24 hours over at Nowness — features The Nightmare Before Christmas-esque stop-motion animation involving three menacing, mustachioed men, a magician, and (of course) a rabbit.
From the Peoples Temple’s mass suicide in Jonestown in the 1970s, to the violent end to David Koresh’s born-again hedonists in Waco, Texas, cults have been a dark chapter in America’s history. Though the organizations themselves claim to offer hope and promise to its members, something much more terrible has been covered by promises of self- fulfillment and spiritual rejuvenation. True to its name, then, Brooklyn-based duo Cults has a bit of this duality as well—offering music that’s blissful, summery, and full of promise yet tinged with an underlying darkness.
The band, though, has no problem balancing these contrasts. In fact, throughout the duo’s debut album, Cults’ gorgeously crafted summer-pop songs are layered with recordings of Jim Jones’ infamous “death speech.” The second track, “Go Outside,” wallows in its own instruments, buzzing to life while Jones’ words state, “To me, death is not a fearful thing; it’s living that is treacherous.” It then explodes into Madeline Follin’s hook-driven vocals, Brian Oblivion’s hazy guitar tooling, and an inescapably catchy xylophone — evoking a sound somewhere between Best Coast, The Kills, The Raveonettes, and The Beach Boys.
And though that juxtaposition helps define Cults, the band moves forward, track after track, offering catchy pop rock — the kind that makes you want to throw some belongings in the car and hit the road until you reach the coastline. And, in that sense, that’s the scary part of Cults: the songs are infectious — enough to brainwash you into liking it immediately.
Nearly torn apart on multiple occasions due to drug abuse and infighting, New York-based rock band Mercury Rev is still together, asking the big questions, and enjoying every opportunity to play another song.
How to Destroy Angels: An Omen EP (Columbia, 11/13/12)
The Shins
