BY NICHOLAS SENIOR
PHOTO BY JOSH VEGA
CONSTRICT
Hometown: Los Angeles, California Album: No Eden EP out now via Flatspot Records RIYL: Snakes. Middle seats. Sheer Terror.
PHOTO BY EBRU YILDIZ
ACTIVITY
Everything about No Eden is meant to suffocate the listener and squeeze out every ounce of life from the listener. Their very apropos name means that Constrict are the anacondas of the metallic hardcore world – massive, heavy, and more than a little scary. They also want to snap your neck, but that is very good in this case, as No Eden’s very short and sweet runtime features some delightful death metal riffs, and a pace that no snake could keep up with. Wisely, the record’s themes are no less terrifying, as vocalist Anthonie Gonazalez notes.
Hometown: New York, New York Album: Unmask Whoever out now via Western Vinyl RIYL: Mysteries. The Unmasking. Happy Accidents.
“I wanted to play on the idea that maybe humanity deserves to suffer. It needs to be driven into insanity into chaos, because it needs a reset. What I wanted to say with this record is each of us has the capability of committing violent acts on each other, and it is our re“I've been in bands where it’s a fight to have it not be a train wreck when everyone sponsibility to admit we are the cause of all our suffering. We are pointing the barrel in our plays together, and this one just never was,â€? Activity vocalist Travis Johnson reflects. direction and pulling the trigger.â€? đ&#x;’Ł “[Activity] always felt tight, and I guess, though we've never really talked about it, that we each just internally recognized what everyone was good at and got to where we could play off of those things, sense each other's instincts. I only realized that later, Hometown: Auckland, New Zealand maybe when we were listening to the songs in the studio.â€? Album: Living Room, out now via Shifting Sounds That feeling of accidental purpose just pours out of the speakers while spinning RIYL: Love Songs. Dreams. Traveling. Unmask Whoever. While the title may give off Scooby Doo vibes, there’s something “Some might say I’m partial to being a much more intense and serious at play here. It’s like a masterful crime thriller, unbit dramatic and sensitive, so my subject raveling layer after layer of intrigue and suspense – if your favorite mystery binge matter is usually dark,â€? vocalist Sam were brought to life in the form of an experimental indie band, that is. The key Vercoe states. “My wife would like me difference, Unmask Whoever grows more addictive with each successive spin. This to write her a nice love song, but so is glorious stuff here. far I haven’t been able to bring myself to do that. Certainly loss, regret, and One of those interesting surprises is a song that references the best C.S. Lewis story, navigating life are core themes that The Great Divorce (sorry if you disagree), as Johnson recalls: underpin the album, but also the hope of getting to a point where people feel “I never really think, ‘I need to write a song about this thing or that thing.’ I just sit at ease with who they are and their down to write and see what comes out, and see what it could mean after a line or surroundings.â€? two, then go deeper into that. At the time, we were working on ‘Calls Your Name,’ and had been reading that Lewis book and talking about it, and in it, all of these people With apologies to Mrs. Vercoe, thank God this record isn’t weighed down by trite love are moving farther and farther away from each other with no contact. They want to songs – those are less appetizing than a cooked rat. Instead, Living Room, is imbued be left completely alone. Napoleon is in one of those houses, muttering bitterly to with a glorious duality. Its songs regale with tales of various harsh realities, while himself constantly. So, it just kind of came out as I sat down to write. I do think it’s a the psychedelic noisy post-punk revels in grimy yet transcendent dream worlds. In really terrifying, and also beautiful book. We can collapse in on ourselves and allow theme and music, Living Room is grungy, with a distinct haunted tone. Swallow The resentment to rot us from within. It’s very easy to do, and very easy to do without Rat imbue the record with delightful Sonic Youth vibes, and should please anyone realizing we’re doing it. And a lot of times, we’d prefer the miserable satisfaction of looking for something different. đ&#x;’Ł that resentment to doing some painful but liberating turning around.â€? đ&#x;’Ł
SWALLOW THE RAT
10 NEW NOISE
