Raketkanon: “Grinning lasciviously and desperately throwing shapes like particularly low-earning rent boys on the meat rack”. Apparently.
Dysgeusia‘s sixth edition sees Getintothis’ Laura Coppin exploring the more diverse end of the musical spectrum.
Here we are, 1/6th of the way through the year, and what do I have to show for it?
Normally I would of course have absolutely nothing, aside from a still-lingering Christmas paunch and a myriad of regrets. This year however, stampeding past as it may be (two months? Already? Was I asleep?), I seem to have managed to achieved a number of things.
Things?
THINGS.
Foremost among these things was to finally meet the unknowable, ageless enigma that is Tommy Wiseau. For any of you who aren’t yet aware of the sheer excruciating majesty that is The Room, I suggest you abandon reading this with as much speed as you can muster and view it immediately. It’s awful, so truly brilliantly awful that after a period of angst you’ll realise with an unstoppable creeping horror that you’ve fallen in love with it. In that moment, your life will change forever.
Welcome to the fold, comrade. Love is blind. Ha ha ha.
Another thing I managed to feverishly stuff into my memory sacs this month was a bungee jump. There’s something about toppling like a falling tree from the top of a 160ft crane that makes you feel completely alive- unless you die of course, but I didn’t so all’s well that ends well.
It is safe to say that this year is making me a very happy little creature indeed. What else is making me a very happy little creature is the wonderfully unpleasant sounds of Belgium’s Raketkanon. With a sound described by Vice‘s Andy Capper as “the feeling you get when you think you’re gonna puke on public transport“, they mix discordant grooves with jangling chords and strangled shrieks and I simply can’t get enough of them. They will be releasing their new album RKTKN#2 on the 30th March, so if your tastes run toward the more unusual end of the spectrum then do ensure you get your hands on a copy.
Similarly suiting a more diverse palate, Italian heavyweights Ufomammut will also be releasing their new album on the 30th March. Titled Ecate, the album mixes oppressive chugging guitars with dreamy vocals to create something that’s a genuine delight to listen to. It is worth noting of course that I do thoroughly enjoy being aurally sat on, but my musical predilections aside theirs is a crushing yet mystical sound that I firmly believe anyone could enjoy.
Honest.
Id like to finish this months musings on a band I’ve only recently discovered – the phlegmily named Shylmagoghnar. Hailing from the Netherlands, the gargle monikered two piece have only released one record so far (in February last year in fact) but it’s a genuinely fantastic piece of work. They play beautifully atmospheric yet progressive death metal, and have been kind enough to load Emergence in its entirety into YouTube.
One track which appeals to my love of melodrama is the Carach Angren-esque This World Shall Fall, but to say it’s the standout track would be to ignore the remarkable diversity of sound to be found across the album. Songs like The Cosmic Tide have sweeping guitar solos that wouldn’t feel out of place on an Anathema album, while finisher The Sun No Longer has all of the lingering intensity of an orchestral film score.
Better late than never, eh?
