Video Premiere: Postura - "Inscenare"

The Brvtalist is pleased to present the music video premiere of "Insencere" by Philadelphia's Postura. The solo project of Rådgärd Lyndsay, Postura is frozen synth-pop which is both tantalizing and infectious. While loosely adhering to the pop song structure, thematically the release explores much darker territory. Gender dysphoria, declining mental health and other socially conscious issues are examined nicely under the guise of a stylistically melancholy pop record. The video for "Insencere" captures the slow burning yet disorienting nature of the release.

"Insencere" appears on the 5 track cassette EP, "Cadere", out now on Brvtalist favorite End Result Productions. For more information and purchasing visit the label's webstore.

-JRS

Chris Lux - Absinthe

Immerse yourself in sea of phthalo green and optical trickery at the new solo exhibition by San Francisco-based artist Chris Lux. Now on view at L.A.'s Sade Gallery, "Absinthe" is a stunning example of thinking beyond the traditional gallery space to create a full color environment that swallows the viewer and entrances the senses.

Working from historical texts such as The Golden Legend (1260-1450) and the Ming era novel, The Golden Lotus (1610), Lux employs figurative painting and immersive atmospheres to transport us to a faraway time, where the past is unknowable and the future not yet realized. Using paintings within paintings and other optical mechanisms, Lux's work is tragic, romantic and above all enthralling. We can't help but be mesmerized by his beautiful human forms and powerful, contemplative figures which are lost in a hypnotic world. We love the use of Phalo green and almost tribal influences which evoke feelings of a lost civilization.

Chris Lux - "The Rain" oil acrylic on canvas (2016) Courtesy of Sade Gallery.

To accompany the exhibition, Lux's friend Ethan Mitchell, wrote a poem based on his impressions of these paintings and the climate of influence:

There are many ways to escape; across the field,
by climbing a tree,
or through the window.

Leave limbs in the world of green wakes, phases and strips
of rain returning
quarter by quarter.

Chris Lux - "The Room" Oil and acrylic on canvas (2016) Courtesy of Sade Gallery

On view now until October 23rd, this is a must see exhibition in Los Angeles. Sade Gallery continues to impress with its plethora of emerging talent and we look forward to seeing more from the gallery and Chris Lux. For more information please visit Sade L.A.

-JRS

Chris Lux - "The Paintings" Oil and Acrylic on canvas (2016). Courtesy of Sade Gallery

Haraam - "Spreading By The Sword"

The Brvtalist is proud to premiere a new track by Copenhagen-based artist Haraam. The solo project of Martin Schacke, Haraam has become one of our new favorite acts - fusing elements of power electronics, noise, techno, industrial and more. Back in June we featured the artist's previous release, Let The Swords Tear Me to Pieces, and we are pleased to see new material out on Italy's Yerevan Tapes. Active since 2014, Haraam has a unique narrative that gives a black metal feel to lo-fi techno and progressive electronics. "Spreading the Sword" sees Haraam revisiting ritual, Middle-East inspired themes and we love the track's haunting vocals and doom-laden riffs.

The Sacrifice of Will is out October 17th on cassette and digital formats. You can pre-oder the release here. For more music visit Yerevan Tapes and Schacke's label, Moral Defeat.

-JRS

Monica Hits The Ground - "The Backwoods Preacher"

Without context, stumbling upon the latest release from Monica Hits The Ground would evoke feelings of fear and mystery. With only a few releases, the elusive Italian producer has established himself as an important name in the underground and his material exists in the realms of bedroom tape industrial, noise and drone. His latest offering, The Backwoods Preacher, is a powerful mini-lp which has found a home on Violet Poison's excellent Veleno Viola label.

The Backwoods Preacher opens with a noisy invitation to a brutal world. The grinding industrial sounds almost as if you're locked up in a trunk on the way to a remote location. This sets the tone nicely as it's reminiscent of 1980's lo-fi cassettes and its murkiness will continue to pervade the release. Track 2 sees the emergence of shadowy vocals. Echoing through slowed percussion, this is a death march to your final resting place.

Track 3 (perhaps our favorite), slightly picks up the tempo and infuses rhythmic elements to the constant, punishing grind. This is where the suffering really begins and track 4 picks up there with evil vocal arrangements and tension building shrieks. Track 5 closes things out and ventures into more experimental techno with an alarming pace and tortuous, emotional treatment. This is where your journey abruptly ends and you find peacefulness in its final moments of savagery.

Ultimately, The Backwoods Preacher is an expert example of evil industrial noise and barbaric experimental electronics. The mini-lp is available now at Ready Made and other fine record retailers. While we don't know much about this mysterious producer, we actually prefer it that way and will now await his next materialization.

-JRS

New Brvtalism No. 072 - Santoine

The Brvtalist is proud to present a new mix by Rotterdam-based artist Santoine. The solo project of DJ/Producer Serge Lemme, Santoine is a sublime amalgamation of the artist's influences. From eerie ambient to power electronics, shadowy techno and rhythmic industrial, New Brvtalism No. 072 is a tragically romantic journey through sound and space.

The artist also has a new cassette and digital release on the stellar imprint, Night Gaunt Recordings. The self titled release contains six tracks of beautifully composed atmospherics and pulsating industrial. Santoine does an incredible job of story telling and the offerings reflect emotions of a Europe greatly in question. From the somber contemplation on "Facing the Death of Someone You Love", to the more aggressive, "Riots in Europe", this is a well crafted EP that evokes a powerful response.

Serge Lemme is also 1/2 of the duo behind one of our favorite podcast's, Abyssal. We look forward to more from this young producer.

-JRS

Sabrina Ratté - "Lieux-Dits"

The boundaries of reality have become increasingly stretched and perhaps even destroyed. In an increasingly virtual world, we can exist in different mediums while the concepts of time and space are constantly questioned. Montreal-based artist Sabrina Ratté does a masterful job exploring these and other modern concepts with her mind-bending digital works and site-specific installations. Opening Thursday, October 6th at Young Projects Gallery in Los Angeles, Ratté presents Lieux-Dits, her first exhibition in Los Angeles and an impressive undertaking by co-curators Young Projects and Sharsten Plenge (WOAH). On view will be a survey of the artist’s works in addition to new site-specific installations exploring video as environment— including works such as "Common Areas", a sprawling, room-sized, four-channel installation; "Immeuble-Villas", an aluminum print with video augmentation, and several single-channel videos & GIFs.

Sabrina Ratté -Lieux-Dits- • -Winter Garden- 2016 • print with video projection

Ratté's video works act as a portal to another dimension while also providing commentary on our ever changing world of illusion and reality. Citing influence through touring the monumental buildings of Le Corbusier, the otherworldly ambience of Ricardo Bofill’s Espaces Abraxas, and the “villes nouvelles” (new towns) in France, Ratté shares a mesmerization with the “dystopic poetry” of corporatism with frequent collaborator, electronic music composer Roger Tellier-Craig. Utilizing software, photography and more, Ratté combines the digital and analog to submerge viewers in a familiar yet foreign world of pixels, video landscapes and electronic signals. The show’s title refers to the expression for small geographic regions or villages with no registered or official name. These “lieux-dits” are baptized based on historical anecdotes, myth or legend, or denoted as a landmark with a name characteristic of their place.

Sabrina Ratté -Lieux-Dits- • -Immeuble-Villas II- 2016 • dye sublimation print on aluminum with video augmentation

The Brvtalist continues to be fascinated by our virtual vs. physical existence and we love Ratté's approach to the subject. This is a must see exhibition if you're in Los Angeles. Lieux-Dits opens Thursday, October 6th from 5:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. at Young Projects Gallery located at Pacific Design Center, 8687 Melrose Ave. #B230 West Hollywood, CA 90069. The artist will also be in attendance before departing for a 9-month residency with Château Ephémère. Lieux-Dits will be on view thru January 20, 2017. Also opening concurrently is Refik Anadol's augmentation of Andy Warhol's Rain Machine (Daisy Waterfall). For more information visit here.

-JRS

Eomac - Temple of the Jaguar (Eotrax Label Launch + Free Promo Track)

Sound, art and ancient beauty perfectly align in the first release on the newly launched Eotrax label. Helmed by experimental techno artist Eomac (Ian McDonnell, Lakker), the label is a conceptual platform for the the artist's own releases, collaborative projects and other works which fit into the imprint's ethos. The label began after a trip to Mexico in January 2016 and is directly inspired by the sense of connection, mysticism and potential experienced there. Temple of the Jaguar is an excellent first installment consisting of a one sided, single 11 minute track which explores progressive techno, powerful ambient and cosmic drone. The B-side contains a suburb etching by artist Sal Stapleton. From the label:

Conceived on a visit to Teotihuacan near Mexico City, inspired by both the cosmic and earthly power of the place, ‘Temple of the Jaguar’ attempts to find a way back to the animalistic nature within us all. A reconnection to the dark, sensual part of us that has been repressed for centuries in a limiting and limited, fearbased, patriarchal society. A reconnection to the body. A reconnection to femininity. A reconnection to wildness. To intuition. To sexuality. To earth.

Temple of the Jaguar (Eotrax, 2016) — *Temple of the Jaguar* (Eotrax, 2016)

To mark the launch of the label and its first release, Eotrax has also provided us with a free download. Titled "Skeleton Crew", the 2-minute track came from the same sessions as Temple of the Jaguar. It uses the same samples and was written at the same time. While much shorter, is it more direct and just as powerful. A great taste of what's to come. Listen and download here:

Temple of the Jaguar will be released on November 11th, 2016 in 12" and digital formats. Next up for Eomac is an exciting new live AV show, which will be premiered at Unsound, Krakow, Oct 21st, 2016. We love inspired labels which seek to push the boundaries of music, art and more and look forward to more from Eotrax.

-JRS

Zov Zov - The Sacred Pornography of God

Earlier this year Oliver Ho (aka Broken English Club, Raudive or Zov Zov) announced the launch of the label Death & Leisure, with a first release coming from his alias Broken English Club. We now have the second release titled, The Sacred Pornography of God, which is a mini album by Zov Zov, a collaborative project between Oliver Ho and Tommy Gillard.

The record brings together elements of the sacred and the profane, a duality which perfectly complements the noise and minimal industrial infused sounds that Oliver Ho and Tommy Gillard are exploring with this release. Revolving around innocence and sin, body and spirit, dominance and submission, the whole aesthetic of the album builds a ritualistic atmosphere where the body becomes a vessel which needs to be purified through music.

All 6 tracks seem to be pieces of a puzzle which at the end come together as a rite of passage through life - starting with birth, followed by baptism and ending with the decaying of one’s body and imminent death. Similar to that eternal return which forces time to lose its linearity and become cyclical.

The album starts with harsh and abrasive distortions on "Spill", the perfect embodiment of those first moments after being born, when the newborn has to face, for the first time, the confusing reality of the world around us. Throughout the entire album, the body has a strong presence, either through the names of the tracks or through the intense breathings, hissings and pants on "Blood in Blood" or the chants on "Your Body is a Parasite". Each song sounds like it's supposed to accompany a ritual that the listener needs to go through in order to test his own limits. While known for their penchant for EBM and techno or even more dance floor oriented releases, this time Oliver and Tommy are taking us by surprise with electro-acoustic experimentations and cavernous, droney, almost cacophonous compositions, intertwined with tibetan incantations.

The Sacred Pornography of God comes with cover artwork by British Photographer Javier Gallego, which resembles a totem or a sacred object used by indigenous people in various rituals, which only adds another layer of mysticism to the whole release. Whether Zov Zov are supposed to be the ones performing the ceremonies or just the mediators, this mini album manages to create a spiritual universe where music is more than just a tool to create a certain atmosphere, but rather a means to abolish the mind vs body dichotomy.

Available now in 12" format. For more information please visit Facebook and Soundcloud. For purchasing visit Juno.

-Marie Bungau
@mariebungau

Video Premiere: Adhere to Form - "Move in Time"

The Brvtalist is pleased to present the music video premiere of "Move in Time" by Portland's Adhere to Form. The latest project of artist Robert Eagleson (Vice Device), Adhere to Form builds on early industrial, EBM and current movements of synth and wave to create fresh, genre-crossing material that is instantly infectious. "Move in Time" is the first single off the artist's debut LP, Departed, out now on Sinis Recordings. The video was created by the brilliant minds at Roodeaux and is directed by Price Robideaux with Corey Rood serving as Director of Photography. The single and accompanying video is an excellent introduction to the project's sound and aesthetic approach.

Departed is available now on digital and a great looking vinyl format. For more information and music, please visit Facebook and Soundcloud.

-JRS

New Brvtalism No. 071

The Brvtalist is proud to present a new mix by Knut Vandekerkhove. The Nice(FR)-based artist is an exciting underground producer experimenting in the realms of industrial, EBM, techno and noise. He has an upcoming release on Violet Poison's Veleno Viola label and just launched his own imprint, Lonely Life Lovers Club (LLLC). Much of New Brvtalism No. 071 contains forthcoming material from the artist, including tracks off the split EP, Boys Do Cry, with Dead Acid Society. The mix also contains other favorites like JK Flesh, M.E.S.H. and Manunkind, pulling you down into murky depths.

Also available now is the LLLC Special Depression Pack, which contains a signed manifesto, one of a kind cassette packaging. clothing and other gifts. We look forward to hearing more from this up and coming artist. For more music, visit Soundcloud.

-JRS

Track List:
Lotic - Surrender
M.E.S.H - Victim Lord
Knut Vandekerkhove - unreleased
Knut Vandekerkhove - unreleased (forthcoming on LLLCLUB)
Knut Vandekerkhove - unreleased (forthcoming on LLLCLUB)
Keith Fullerton Whitman - Generator 7B
D.A.S - unreleased (forthcoming on LLLCLUB)
Knut Vandekerkhove - unreleased (forthcoming on LLLCLUB)
Knut Vandekerkhove - unreleased
Tuning Circuits - We rule the world
Knut Vandekerkhove - unreleased (forthcoming on Veleno Viola)
Freddie Fresh - Space Funk
JK Flesh - Posthuman
I Hate Models - Modern image slavery
Manunkind - Acéphale
Not Waving - Mental means alone
Gorillaz - M1A1
D.A.S - unreleased (forthcoming on LLLCLUB)
Rabit - Tearz