Deeper Graves
The Collosal Sleep
self-released
Jeff Wilson’s one-man project Deeper Graves plies an especially dreary form of American darkwave on their new The Collosal Sleep EP. From the moment instrumental opener “Feverish Dreams” blooms into a flurry of rolling toms, layered whispers, and ethereally drifting guitar the project’s debt to shoegaze (and possibly some post-rock as well) is apparent. But the first discernable lyric on the record (“Every day I wake up and punch the alarm clock and pretend it’s my own face”) jerks the listener out of classically gothic daydreaming and into a much more day to day style of miserablism and misanthropy. Wilson’s roots in extreme metal (Nachtmystium, Wolvhammer) might appear instructive, but the senses of anxiety and recrimination Wilson taps into have more in common with the strained self-loathing commonly found in the lengthy history of American noise rock. More importantly, the elegance with which “15000 Lives” builds a slow, wintry churn worthy of Lycia, and the sense of panic which drives “Corridors” demonstrate Wilson’s ability to bring all of these influences, be they abrasive or enveloping, to bear in an artful manner on The Collosal Sleep.
Her Noise is Violence
Void Rituals
Detriti Records
Philly producer Her Noise is Violence deals in two very distinct styles, namely harsh noise and hard techno. Her first EP for Detriti Void Rituals falls into the latter camp, pretty much devoid of any of the standard industrial techno tropes and going a more trad stylistic route in execution. “I Dream of Acid” has the squealing filter work you would associate with a song of that title, but gives you a solid minute or two of tension building drones before the synthlines slice their way through the reverb drenched audio spectrum. “Into the Void” goes for a straight kick and cymbal progession, allowing the squelching synths and rubbery bass to evolve around the percussion in a pleasingly minimal and elastic fashion. In contrast to it, the EP highlight ends up being “Witching Hour”, a track that sets up a burbling bassline that almost reads as goa before ramping up howling synthetic wind, digital sweeps and a monolithic progression beats the track into a new shape. Whether your average fan of more hybridized forms of techno can get with these songs is open to debate, but there’s no denying their potency.
