Ritual Howls & Chasms (Postpunk, USA)
Ritual Howls & Chasms (Postpunk, USA)
RITUAL HOWLS:
Detroit's Ritual Howls blend elements of post-punk, industrial, soundtrack, and musique concrãte into stark yet enveloping music. Featuring Paul Bancell (vocals, guitar), Chris Samuels (synth, samples, drum machine), and Ben Saginaw (bass), the trio issued its 2012 self-titled debut album on Urinal Cake Records and a series of cassettes on Nostilevo in 2012 and 2013. After signing to Felte Records, the band's second album, Turkish Leather, arrived in September 2014. Two years later, Ritual Howls returned with Into the Water, which emphasized their country influences as well as their pitch-black moods. 2017 saw the release of Their Body, a five-song EP of atmospheric post-punk and dark wave-inspired songs. The Detroit trio's fourth full-length Rendered Armor released in 2019 follows the Their Body EP with expansive arrangements sculpted with masterful production.
https://ritualhowls.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/ritualhowls
CHASMS:
‘Glimpse Of Heaven’ – a stunning new album by the Hawaii-born, LA-based musician, singer, producer and professional mastering engineer Jess Labrador, AKA Chasms.
Labrador’s deeply personal work as Chasms has always felt like an unveiling. Following 2019’s ‘The Mirage,’ which was a dark, dubby meditation on grief and loss, this new album is both familiar and different. The third full-length under the Chasms name, ‘Glimpse of Heaven’ trades in washes of reverb for starker moments of closeness and intimacy. An exploration of the personal inventory and reckoning necessary to move forward in life, the LP considers not only how we relate to the world, but more importantly how we relate to ourselves.
While always distinct, you could previously detect post-punk, shoegaze, and dub sensibilities in the music. Dreamy drift tethered by skittered beats, airy vocals, and melancholic melodies are here like previous efforts too. However, at the same time, Labrador steps into new territory with an expanse of vaporous synths and samples, adding to the project’s ethereal electronic pop and dubwise pulse. Lush guitars glisten throughout the album, but this time only in sparse, disciplined embellishments. ‘Glimpse of Heaven’ is a fully realised version of Chasms beyond its influences; to say that this is a seamless evocation of such disparate sounds as Massive Attack, Basic Channel, Sade, Seefeel and Dif Juz is to say it is wholly unique
https://chasms.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/chasms____/
