Written by: The Administrator
Welcome back to AMPWALL Roundup, our (unfortunately infrequent) column dedicated to shining a little light on the music we slumbering scribes find whilst trawling through the explore page over on Ampwall. It's been a little while since we checked in, but rest assured: Ampwall is still cool. They have also updated the embed display since the last Roundup, which is exciting and much appreciated. As far as introductory fluff goes, I've written myself into a bit of a corner here at this stage in the game, so let me quote the intro from Volume II: "If you don't know what this whole Ampwall thing is all about, please take a quick gander at Volume I, where we get a little more in-depth regarding the many virtues of the new platform/marketplace/community. We here at ye olde Sleeping Village are big advocates for the integration of additional resources into the independent artist's promo toolkit. To that end, having more music-purchasing people become aware of Ampwall's existence will only help it grow as a viable option moving forward." Let's get to the music, shall we? Below are 6 (more!) bands I recommend checking out!
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Written by: The Administrator
If MEGAFAUNA doesn't represent the perfect antithesis of easy listening, I shudder to think what else could have possibly earned that designation. Indeed, in my review of MEGAFAUNA's unsettling and engrossing Venator, released back in April of 2024, I wrote that the project is "not a light nor carefree listen." I also called it "unabashedly weird and intense" and referenced both an "uncomfortable urgency" and a tendency to nail a sense of "terrible disassociation that paradoxically makes you hyperaware of your physicality." In short, I liked Venator very much, and found MEGAFAUNA's articulation of anxiety, fear, paranoia, and depression to be quite poignant. I Owe This Land a Body similarly presents an intense soundscape, leaning into a lonely and foreboding eeriness. This is, after all, an album explicitly exploring the notion that "how dying is the last decent thing we can do." A sense of profound despair implicitly and intentionally seeps forth from the Megafauna corpus, and this latest isn't exactly a cheery listen. With that said, I Owe This Land a Body is less immediately jarring than Venator, and even manages to undercut its own sense of unease with some unexpected bright spots.
Curated and Written by: David Frazer of Cruce Signatus
In an attempt to give some cool bands a platform to talk about cool music, we're trying something new here at Ye Olde Sleeping Village. Each Wednesday henceforth, a band will be taking over the blog to share a curated playlist, along with some words about each song and why they picked it. First up is Cruce Signatus, a new project from Milwaukee based multi-instrumentalist David Frazer, who you might previously know from (the excellent!) Pillaging Villagers. Blending heavy metal, cinematic compositions, and synthwave, the self-titled Cruce Signatus debut was released on June 7th, and can be found here! Without further ado, I'll let David take over. Enjoy!
In this list below, I tried to choose songs from albums that were highly influential on my creative process for Cruce Signatus, listed in descending order of influence. There were many albums that were influential for me, but these represent the top 10.
Written by: The Administrator
As a pseudo-mediaeval scribe raised off the grid, I wasn't exactly allowed video games at home as a child. However, if I saw Epilogue's artwork gracing a PlayStation disc at a friend's house, I would have, without a doubt, been suitably enraptured. Look at those colors! The implied sense of movement and perhaps, if you use your imagination, even a little chaotic violence! The allure is strong. Judging the book by its cover aside, I am familiar with 18 Slashes' game. 2023's excellent Jawnnobyl was a dark synthwave masterclass as far as I'm concerned, and ended up taking the crown as my favorite electronic album of the year. Created as the soundtrack for a game that does not exist, and admittedly operating at a much higher bitrate, every 18 Slashes release is nevertheless imbued with an endearing nostalgia. Stefan Schneider has found a delicate balance between explosively frenetic fun and a specific yearning for the irreplicable childlike glee associated with experiencing a new game for the very first time. Anyways, this was originally going to be published as a mini-review, but I have far too much to say. Let's blow away the word count parameters and just go for it, shall we?
Guest Post by: Ria Wigley
1. Old Nick
If there’s one thing that defines the microgenre of Vampyric Black Metal other than lyrics and imagery about vampires, it is flamboyant, dare I say CAMP riffs, a big focus on atmospheric synths, and absurd song titles. No band exemplifies this better than Old Nick. In fact, the 16-bit inspired keyboard sounds were almost too silly for me to really enjoy this band upon first listen, but after giving it more time I quickly grew to love it. There is an inherent silliness to the obsessive adherence to a particular aesthetic that most vampire media portray, even when it still manages to be coldly sinister and atmospheric at the same time, and Old Nick is the perfect musical representation of that. If you were hoping for second wave worship with some more gothic elements...well this isn’t that, it’s much better. Plus, who doesn’t love song titles like "Blood, Blood, Blood, Blood, Blood" or "Spooky Wicker Basket 1994 (Yes, a witch!)" Recommended album: A New Generation of Vampiric Conspiracies FRESH MEAT FRIDAY - Feb. 4th, 2022, Feat. Golgothan, Titanosaur, Iōhannēs, and Krystal Swords2/3/2022 On (occasional) Fridays, a wagon arrives at the Sleeping Village’s crumbling gates, stuffed to the brim with our sustenance. Today is the day we must offload all this week's new and noteworthy music, and so, in the process, we thought it would be worthwhile to share some of our choice picks from this veritable mass of fresh meat. This is what we’ll be listening to today at the Village HQ. We hope you join us in doing so! On the docket for today, Feb. 4th, 2022: Golgothan, Titanosaur, Iōhannēs, and Krystal Swords
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