Re-Post: Manual Zombie - S. T. (HLFP Compilation) (USA 2009)

MANUAL ZOMBIE is a New York/Brooklyn-based psychedelic band (like SKY PICNIC), a duo of two guys: Ahmad and Ben. Compared to SKY PICNIC their music is more sinister and far less influenced by 60ies/70ies psychedelic rock. MANUAL ZOMBIE's sound is at least to some degree rooted in the 90ies grunge, post punk and metal sound (though on tracks like "automatic people" some Sweet-Sister-Ray-VU-Punk is greeting). I'd also say I hear some BLACK FLAG influences, and I especially love that excellent distorted guitar playing. Their other main weapon is the voice - often spooky and menacing with strange spoken word passages:This is a trip to the dark realms of psychedelia. Enjoy!

MANUAL ZOMBIE's website lists four releases, and the 9 tracks from this collection here are taken from those records (that you can buy there) except for one song that was only recorded recently.

Favourite tracks: "Automatic People" and "No More Sun"

http://www.manualzombie.com

http://www.myspace.com/manualzombie

MANUAL ZOMBIE - S. T. (HLFP Compilation)

(mp3 zip, 9 tracks, 34 min, 26 MB, art incl.)

Get it here or here or here!

INTERVIEW (June 2009):

- where exactly are you from?

brooklyn

- do you want your real name(s) mentioned? If so: what is your real name?

A: sure.  Ahmad.

B: Ben

- how/when recorded? (at home/equipment...)?

B: We have three albums -all recorded on my computer.

- any official releases? If so, label, record nr.?

B: We haven't really released anything officially. We try to sell cds at shows and actually got somebody to buy one last monday. 

- since when are you into music?

A: weird question but I guess I've been into music from a young age, i just took a long time to start playing.  

B: I started listening to black flag in 6th grade. Thats when I started playing bass.

- any previous bands?  

A: Coupe of denver bands that no one will ever hear of. 

B: I played bass in a band called whore nun wizard ninja. We did classic rock covers and played one show. It was terrible.

- how do you "label" your music?

A: indie-heavy, psycadelic-shoegazish rock

B: acid rock

- influences?

A: Personally: Floyd, Zep, Radiohead

B: the velvet underground, bob dylan, pink floyd, black flag, dario argento

Zero Nowhere - Floriculture EP + Bonus (PL 2010)

ZERO NOWHERE is a one-man home-recording project from Lublin, Poland.

The music is instrumental, rather dark, slow guitar driven psychedelic/post rock music with some stoner/doom elements.

One can definitely detect a slight late 60s psychedelic punk influence (e.g. the main guitar riff on Pinewoods suggests the STOOGES on valium, without Iggy), but this is far from being a retro 60s sound.

Quite interesting for fans of the darker side of psych/stoner music.

Check it out!

Q: Where exactly are you from?


A: I'm from Lublin, Poland



Q: Do you want your real name mentioned? If so: What is your real name?


A: No i use only my nickname - Zero Nowhere



Q: Who involved? Who played what?


A: Guitars and bass was played by myself as same as drum samples



Q: How recorded?


A: This is 100% home recording. Just making drum samples and playing guitars and recording it on my computer.



Q: When recorded?


A: from june 2010 to september 2010



Q: Any more releases?


A: I've made an EP called "Witchcraft". You can download it from: http://www.mediafire.com/?887s9ghg5v0



Q: Since when does this project exist?


A: Since december 2008



Q: Any previous bands worth mentioning?


A: Eyes Like Halogen - a sludge/doom metal band from Poland. We have EP called "Isolation" You can listen to it here: www.myspace.com/eyeslikehalogen



Q: How'd you "label" your music? (I know... nobody wants to get labeled... bla bla bla...)


A: It's instrumental psych/post rock with some stoner elements.



Q: Influences?


A: 60s psych rock, Dead Meadow, Electric Wizard, Eyehategod, Earth, Stinking Lizaveta, Yawning Man, Bardo Pond



Q: Website, Myspace?


A: Myspace - www.myspace.com/zerofromnowhere



Q: Anything that you think is interesting, that you'd like to inform the blog readers about..


A: Just listen and let the music speak. I mean. Not only my music, there's a lot of great underground, home-recorded psychedelic/experimental music here in europe but it's hard to find so get into it, promote it and keep the scene alive. Check out Oceanrising - http://www.myspace.com/oceanrising1 its great stuff. Cheers.

(Interview via email September 2010)

http://www.myspace.com/zerofromnowhere

Favourite track: Sand Hills

ZERO NOWHERE - Floriculture EP + bonus (PL 2010)

(mp3-zip, 7 tracks, 29 min, 26,7 MB)

Get it here or here or here!

Bird From The Abyss - III (FINL. 2010)

In March 2009 I posted the extraordinary first ep album by BIRD FROM THE ABYSS from Finland (get it here!).

This here is already the 3rd release. It is (was?) also available as a limited run on 3" cd-r.

So expect some more fuzz and ritualistic sounds,

"ancient arts of primive wizards and shamans combined to modern sound of the fuzz guitar..."

(from BFTA website)

Enjoy!

http://www.birdfromtheabyss.com/

http://birdfromtheabyss.bandcamp.com/

http://www.archive.org/details/BirdFromTheAbyss-Iii

BIRD FROM THE ABYSS: III (EP 2010)

(mp3-zip, 3 track, 22 min, 49,9 MB)

Get it here or here!

Old And Gray - Vowel Sounds (USA 2010)

More new sounds from OLD AND GRAY (see older posts here): Vowel Sounds (11 min), again rather dark indie/alternative and electronic rock sounds.

4 shorter pieces in one long track: 11 Fingers, Tearable, Tearable 02, Melting Away.

http://oldandgray.bandcamp.com/album/vowel-sounds

OLD AND GRAY: Vowel Sounds (2010)

(mp3-zip, 1 track, 11 min, 25,4 MB, fr. cover incl.)

Get it here!

Manual Zombie - Autumn (USA 2009)

A band most blog readers will know by now.

MANUAL ZOMBIE were already featured July and August last year, and they also have one excellent track, Automatic People, on the last Homemade-Lofi-Psych Compilation SOUND EXPLOSIONS (HLFP 04).

This here is their latest release.

"... as for this album being a bit different, I think it's closer to our first self-titled LP than 'ice from the sun'. I consider that album nightmare rock. It has a story line. I thought we (were) going to continue in that direction, but we kind of went back to being a regular rock band. So it's a little lighter in tone and subject matter for the most part."

(Ben from M. Z.)

And here's a new video, posted on YouTube.

So much for "nightmare rock"...

http://www.manualzombie.com/

http://www.myspace.com/manualzombie

Favourite track: stabbing

MANUAL ZOMBIE - Autumn (USA 2009)

(mp3.zip, 17 tracks, 51 min, 42,7 MB)

Get it here (links are dead - RE-UP by request)!

East Ra - Sutra (Croatia 2009)

In February last year I posted "Cold Summer" by Croatian underground psych band EAST RA.

"Sutra" is their latest release, their second album, this time sung in their own language.

dino-s translated the original song titles for us, so that we might get an idea what the songs are about.

These are raw, rather lo-fi recordings, again mostly folkrock mainly based on acoustic guitar playing and often unpolished, sometimes blues-y vocals. Probably not quite as dark as the first album, but just as atmospheric.

Amazing work!

http://www.myspace.com/eastra1

EAST RA - Sutra (2009)

(mp3-zip, 15 tracks, 62 min, 140,1 MB, artwork incl.)

01. the witch (Štriga)

02. cock blues (Kurac Blues)

03. little green song (Moli zeleni kanat)

04. watering can (Žbrufador)

05. flower (Rožica)

06. dark road (Škura cesta)

07. chamomile and coffe (Kamamila i kafe)

08. arm, knee (Ruka, koleno)

09. orange (Naronca)

10. our meadow (Joko joko)

11. very very (Naš kršin)

12. my cloud and i (Moj oblak i ja)

13. went hiding in the woods (Šo son se skrit va bošak)

14. border of miracle (Kunfin od mirakula)

15. this morning (Sutra)

Get it here!

Old And Gray - Souls Worth Saving (USA 2010)

"I've been releasing an album a month since Oct 25th 2009, and yesterday (= February 25th 2010) marked the release of my 3rd album. It's called Souls Worth Saving and i would love to share it with you. Actually i'd love to share it with as many people as i possibly can, and part of my goal is to reach a million downloads by October 2010. the albums i release are free (donations accepted). If you like the album, please share it with your friends in any way." (OaG in email)

http://oldandgray.bandcamp.com/

One more release by OLD AND GRAY, part of the "one album a month project" (though I don't quite get it: releasing albums since October and this one, released in February, is Number 3...? Hmm?).

Again very well produced tracks, well worth your attention. This time more in a dark alternative/indie rock context with some electronics mixed in.

Favourite track: Little Creatures but that whole thing is of very high quality

OLD AND GRAY - Souls Worth Saving (2010)

(mp3-zip, 3 tracks, 13 min, 29,6 Mb)

Get it here!

Old And Gray - She's Buried Deep (USA 2004)

OLD AND GRAY originally from Redwood City, CA, recently relocated to Berkeley, CA. He is into music since 1984. He recently sang for a band called PHANTOM FLOAT, and currently is the drummer for ROOM FOR A GHOST.

"She's Buried Deep" was recorded in 2004 and first released in 2005.

All tracks and all parts were played by OLD AND GRAY, recorded "outside, in the laudry room, in cars, in garages, in the bathroom, on train tracks, in my room. Using one mic all the way through. an i5 and a bullet mic depending on the song."

Q: Influences?

A: mostly the instruments i try to play. they have a huge influence on the way things sound. besides that, i'm totally influenced by things that happen around me, what i had for lunch, and people that play music and REALLY mean it.

Q: Anything that you think is interesting, that you'd like to inform the blog readers about...

A: i really want to find a band in the berkeley area to work with. i really want to start up a gypsy concert network in the berkeley area. – i really want to create a community of people that organize house shows, and share art. – i also think that being a musician is CRAZY. bands break up too often, and lose sight of having fun even quicker. i think one thing to do is help the bands around you.

Q: How'd you "label" your music?

"she's buried deep" is pretty fuzzy, lo-fi, electronic, dark, experimental, rock. kinda ambient too.

Interesting dark experimental album, some rock, some pop, some avantgarde elements. Very well produced. Doesn't sound like anyone else. Self-contained and courageous. Recommended.

Favourite track: Can You See?, Three Dead Moods

http://oldandgray.bandcamp.com/album/shes-buried-deep

OLD AND GRAY - She's Buried Deep

(mp3-zip, 8 tracks, 34 min, 76,9 MB)

Get it here!

Manual Zombie - Ice From The Sun (USA 2009)

In July I posted some tracks by the New York/Brooklyn-based dark psychedelic band MANUAL ZOMBIE (check 'em out here) . This here is their latest release.

Surely not everybody's cup of cool aid 'Ice From the Sun' makes for very interesting listening. The entrance of a drum machine with a rather minimalistic sound (just bass and snare, tambourine, no cymbals, reminding me of SUICIDE), that sometimes sounds somehow a little "disjointed" on some tracks (e.g. "disease") only adds to the often disturbing overall effect. Some songs are pretty hard to listen to because of the extremely dark and violent, nightmarish pictures they evoke (first of all "broken world", obviously the story of a serial killer and rapist including overlaying screams curdling one's blood). Be warned! This stuff surely is not for the sensitive, thin-skinned minds!

If you are not afraid to visit the dark side of psychedelia, then this will be a rewarding listening experience!

...And I really love that distorted guitar!

Enjoy!

http://www.manualzombie.com

http://www.myspace.com/manualzombie

Manual Zombie - Ice From The Sun (USA 2009)

(mp3-zip, 12 tracks, 49 min, 35,2 MB, art incl.)

Get it here (Links are dead - RE-UP by request)!

Eva Brown And The Infected Whore - HLFP-Song Collection (IT 2009)

From Florence/Firenze, Italy, comes EVA BROWN AND THE INFECTED WHORE, the solo project of a 24 years old guy who recorded all five songs featured here with guitar and computer.

"i think my music is a sort of electronic folk with dark ambient sounds a lot of time... I think my influences are: Nick Drake, some of Industrial scene, Nico..." (EBATIW)

Quite a variety of styles on offer here – from noise ('Heroin') to dark electronic folk ('Lost Child of the Woods') to dark experimental ambient sound collages ('THE ART OF SELF DESTRUCTION'). Very interesting, experimental stuff. Enjoy!

http://www.myspace.com/detcefniehtdnanworbave

Eva Brown And The Infected Whore - HLFP-Song Collection

(IT 2009)

(mp3 zip, 5 tracks, 31 min, 35,2 MB)

Get it here!

Manual Zombie - S. T. (HLFP Compilation) (USA 2009)

MANUAL ZOMBIE is a New York/Brooklyn-based psychedelic band (like SKY PICNIC), a duo of two guys: Ahmad and Ben. Compared to SKY PICNIC their music is more sinister and far less influenced by 60ies/70ies psychedelic rock. MANUAL ZOMBIE's sound is at least to some degree rooted in the 90ies grunge, post punk and metal sound (though on tracks like "automatic people" some Sweet-Sister-Ray-VU-Punk is greeting). I'd also say I hear some BLACK FLAG influences, and I especially love that excellent distorted guitar playing. Their other main weapon is the voice - often spooky and menacing with strange spoken word passages: This is a trip to the dark realms of psychedelia. Enjoy!

MANUAL ZOMBIE's website lists four releases, and the 9 tracks from this collection here are taken from those records (that you can buy there) except for one song that was only recorded recently.

Favourite tracks: "Automatic People" and "No More Sun"

Next N.Y. live gig (w/ ORANGE OVEN and SKY PICNIC):

6 August 2009

Parkside Lounge
 317 E Houston St (btwn Ave B and Ave C),

New York, NY 10002

10 PM - FREE

http://www.manualzombie.com

http://www.myspace.com/manualzombie

MANUAL ZOMBIE - S. T. (HLFP Compilation)

(mp3 zip, 9 tracks, 34 min, 26 MB, art incl.)

Get it here or here or here! (New Links May 2012)

Coreopsis - Time-Lag Guitar Figures (2008)

Since April 2008 there is a guy from New Hampshire out there, who runs a blog and posts music recorded by himself under the name of COREOPSIS (before he deceided to do a name change in October 2008 - now: ARHA - because he found out, that there existed a metal-core band from Texas with the same name).

COREOPSIS/ARHA is heavily into experimental music - from dark ambient to neofolk, to psych guitar to (mostly) noise and doom. The thing I'm going to post here first is rather "tame" in comparison to most of the other works by COREOPSIS/ARHA: "Time-Lag Guitar Figures"

"As the last Coreopsis release (before making the switch to my new name, Arha) I have indulged my delay fetish to the utmost. Flanged multi-tracked psych freakouts galore!"

Nevertheless this stuff surely isn't for the rock enthusiast... this isn't "rock music" - it's experimental music, at times rather heavy and quite dark, though sometimes there are also some gentle moments to be found (e.g.: 'Rusted Overture'). Very trippy, far out stuff! Enjoy!

COREOPSIS - Time-Lag Guitar Figures (2008)

(mp3 zip, 5 tracks, 102 min, 93 MB)
Get it here (dead link - RE-UP by request)!

Bird From The Abyss - I (FINL. 2009)

Here is another extraordinary, very promising homemade recording, this time from Finland. BIRD FROM THE ABYSS explores the darker regions and has an almost medival, gothic over all atmosphere.

"Plug 'Bird From The Abyss - I' to your headphones, take a trip to the darkness of your local forbidden forest and experience the unreal. Hailing from Finland, BIRD FROM THE ABYSS is playing music from the unknown depths, according to ancient Gods long forgotten." (Matias Aaltonen, BFTA)

Instruments featured:
Electric Guitar, Classical Guitar, Concert Zither, Bass, Voice, Flute, Percussions, Chimes etc., Various Synths

Website

BIRD FROM THE ABYSS - I
(mp3 zip, 4 tracks, 13 min, 27,1 MB, @320, artwork incl.)
1. Intro / Beginning At Center Of The Chaos / Azathoth And Fulte 1:54
2. Song To The Great Black Fox 2:12
3. Ways Of Slaughter 3:34
4. Abdul Alhazred's Anxiety 5:22
Get it here!

East Ra - Cold Summer (Croatia 2008)

This is your chance to listen to some true Croatian underground psych music: EAST RA.

Where else would you find something like that, if not on homemade lofi psych?

Don't miss this one - it's great!

Mostly dark psychedelic freak folk - homemade, recorded absolutely lofi in a living room; dark melodies based on acoustic guitar playing, a sinister voice (singing English lyrics - their next album will be sung in a special dialect, only understood in the region the band is from - "it doesn't get more psychedelic than singing in some weird language that noone understands" (dino-s) - ), an occasional piano/keyboard, sometimes heavily distorted (e.g. on "Blind"). A very atmospheric piece of music... Recommended!

Favourite track: Blind

Enjoy! And thanks for sharing, dino-s!

EAST RA - Cold Summer (2008)

(mp3 zip, 11 tracks, 51 min, artwork incl., 114 MB)

Get it here - RE-UP May 2024)