Altered Zones

Spencer Walker of OMG Vinyl says:
I first heard about Ash Borer when I was trolling on death and doom metal forums sometime last year. Back then, they were branded as “black metal.” Don’t get me wrong, these dudes aren’t not playing black metal, but if any band out there transcends the trappings of sub-genre classification, then it would be these guys.

After a few emails back and forth with Kyle of Ash Borer, I received their 2009 Demo tape. Red cassette, black & white j-card, gothic font on the imprint-- pretty standard deal for this scene. Ash Borer had no sample clips out there, no press photos, no YouTube videos. I had literally no idea what would come out of the speakers when I pressed play.

I desperately tried to find something to grasp onto during the ensuing maelstrom-- logic, reason, sanity, gravity, a center, an axis. The way the music effortlessly ascended from a pummeling, blackened vortex into calm, collapsed oblivion was unlike anything I had experienced before. So yeah, I guess it really is “black” metal. Black like the void, black like Nietzsche’s abyss. I gazed into it, and it gazed also into me.

There is no face-paint or sartorial shenanigans, and no defilement of Christian idols or adulation of Occult entities; just fierce and face-melting metal of the highest calibre. A group that makes great strides with every release, their newest self-titled LP is an easy contender for the most passionate and cathartic release of the year.

Ash Borer: "Rest, You Are The Lightning"

Grab a copy of the Ash Borer 12" from Pesanta Urfolk, or get the complete discography up to now on two cassettes from Ash Borer's own Pyschic Violence Records

The Decibel Tolls says:
You might think we're talking about one of Frank Zappa's children, but MoonLasso is actually the nom de plume of a young lady named Malee from the state capitol of Florida. Despite the Sunshine State's consistent torrent of spring-breakin', brew-crushin', and Margaritavillin', some truly spooky and magnificent music creeps up from this locale, as further evidenced by friends Emily Reo and Rabbit Punch. MoonLasso is an even darker offering; angular melodies, echoes and whispers, suffocating ambient swells, and flickering shadows creep throughout the sound-space, sculpting this forebodingly beautiful 8mm pop. Enjoy the sublime "Empty Aerials" from her EP, Lamplighter, crossing the ethereal vocals of the Cocteau Twins with the desolate evil that is Godspeed You Black Emperor.

MP3: MoonLasso: "Empty Aerials"

Lamplighter is available for download via Bandcamp

Mutant Sounds says:
Perfect Vacuum create a perfect pop storm by bum-rushing the backwash of 40+ years of radio culture. The project is the brainchild of Dave Marsh (aka Xentos "Frey" Bentos, aka L. Voag, aka Jim Whelton) of post punk legends The Homosexuals, and Lukas Simonis, a perennial Rotterdam fringe mover and collaborator of Felix Kubin. These two imps of the perverse reveal themselves here for the epic melody craftsmen they are, creating a "pop" of idiomatic seams, bursting under the pressure of applied irreverence. "I Am the Walrus" cellos hold harmonized, deftly pitched vocals aloft before getting sideswiped with a temporal shift into Ghost Box electronic "library music" screwiness.

MP3: Perfect Vacuum: "Stories of the American Civil Wars"

A Guide to Music of the 21st Century is available now at Acidsoxx