Since composer Sean McBride unveiled his first utterance as Martial Canterel almost 2 decades ago, he has produced a body of work both substantial and alluring within the field of live analogue electronic music. Effortlessly fusing a variety of styles and influences, Martial Canterel is one of the premiere outfits utilizing analogue electronics and modular synthesizers. In particular FM synthesis is employed to produce clustered polyphonies and organic atmospheres – a staple of his signature style.
Three years have passed since Martial Canterel’s last full length album Gyors, Lassù was released on Dais Records. During this down time, McBride found himself in a state of flux, ebbing back and forth between material displacement and musical aestheticism. His expert pedigree in electronic sound and arrangement bridges the gap created by an undecidability between life at home and abroad – his new album, Lost At Sea, is an attempt for the artist to locate common ground, mutating fable with reality, exteriority and interiority.
LP
“Oak Wood” was a song received a couple weeks following the Ghostship tragedy in Oakland. The DAIS family lost one of it’s most beloved members, Cash Askew, and its song title is a literal translation of her last name; In Old Norse being Eiki (oak) Skogr (wood) thus making Oak Wood. I found the name to be symbolically poignant in light of the events and wanted this to be a tribute piece. The lyrics grapple with the existence of a god in a time of such utter sadness, hopelessness, and confusion.
“Egress” is meant to serve as a faint departure or daydream; spaces I often find myself drifting to as a means of escape when disturbing thoughts cyclically plague my brain. Side A confronts the issue and Side B acts as a mental respite. Making instrumental guitar pieces has always been an act of meditation and I hope if only for a brief moment, the listener can wander and lose themselves within the sonic imagery offered in this piece.
7″ / Digital Album
HFF is an Electro-punk act from Los Angeles, USA, in the vein of bands like Portion Control and Cabaret Voltaire, as executed by electronic body mutants Greg Vont and Susan Subtract. Their unique hard beating electronics is heavily infused with body horror and seeks to revive us all from our spectacle-induced coma.
LP / CD / Digital Album
Modular synthesizer enthusiast Drew McDowall is best known for his work with British industrial legends Coil during the ’90s, although his career actually stretches back to the late ’70s. The Scottish musician started post-punk band the Poems with his then-wife, Rose McDowall, in 1978. The group rarely gigged, as the Glasgow pub crowd wasn’t especially interested in their music, and there wasn’t anywhere else for the group to perform. McDowall subsequently moved to London and abandoned guitar-based music, becoming a part of the industrial community. He worked with Genesis P-Orridge and Psychic TV, and eventually joined Coil during the ’90s, contributing to their remixes of Nine Inch Nails as well as the classic Musick to Play in the Dark album. McDowall left Coil and moved to New York City in 2000, becoming a fixture of the city’s experimental music scene. He began a project called Captain Sons and Daughters with Kara Bohnenstiel, and later teamed up with Tres Warren of Psychic Ills to form Compound Eye. The group debuted in 2012 with the Origin of Silence LP on The Spring Press, which was followed by Journey from Anywhere, issued by Editions Mego. McDowall began performing solo at the urging of Long Distance Poison’s Nathan Cearley, who invited him to perform at one of the quarterly Modular Solstice concerts in 2012. McDowall then became very active as a solo performer, and in 2015 Dais Records issued his debut solo full-length, Collapse. Two years later, the label released McDowall’s second solo album, Unnatural Channel, which was mixed by Josh Eustis (Telefon Tel Aviv, Second Woman). ~ Paul Simpson
Digital Album
Drab Majesty is an inter-dimensional platform aimed at channeling aural and visual messages founded by a human being from Los Angeles in 2013. The human communes directly with it’s spiritual muse/assumed alter-ego Deb Demure to demonstrate the power in relinquishing ownership to a divine design, thereby handing inspiration over to the spirit world – essentially serving as a contractor in business with the Collective Consciousness.
Relying on those principles, Drab Majesty, from its inception, set out to achieve no specific style, yet over the span of a European tour, several US tours, an LP entitled “Careless” (released and reissued 3 times on DAIS Records), 2 cassette EP’s, and a 7-inch on (Weyrd Son/Brussels), Deb has honed in on a pointed aesthetic.
While inherently guitar-driven music in the vain of The Chameleons or Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, Drab Majesty’s sound is often nuanced by ethereal washes of icy keyboards and arpeggiated synthesizers, backed by heavy mechanized percussion and forked pulsing synth bass, all adorned with reverb-laden vocals reminiscent of a hallowed cathedral.
Digital Album
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