Yup, we did it. We were able to find two new Crystal bands in consecutive weeks. Last week it was the Euro-dance Kitsune product Crystal Fighters, this week it’s Vancouver’s psychedelic-punk-pioneers Twin Crystals. But don’t be scared off by the name.
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Bringing a progressive agglomeration of Basque-influenced folk, electronic synthetic beats and unparalleled vocals to the forefront of European music through their infamous live shows and rigorous tour schedule, the East London-based five-some of fury Crystal Fighters are absolutely killing it.
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[Photo by Nate Dorr]
Have you ever wondered what would happen if High Places and Dan Deacon had a love child? Aside from the hotly disturbing picture this thought paints (no offense to anyone), it would probably sound something like Best Hits.
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This week, our never ending quest to find you the best new sounds takes us to the remote plains of Bisbee, Arizona, an old mining town that’s since blossomed as an unlikely artistic mecca deep in the desert. It’s here that pummeling death-punk quartet Francis Harold & the Holograms call home, which, given their penchant for ear-splitting noise and shredded songcraft, puts them at odds with the area’s picturesque views and generally calm demeanor. An inscrutable entity, the band never appear in public without their ghoulish masks, which, despite making you think of Slipknot, actually adds an air of the occult to anything they lay their sticky hands on.
They’ve been kicking around for a while, but have, until just recently, only released one 7″, a brilliantly brief (and rather limited) two-song eponymous EP on Going Underground Records. That all changes this month though, with the release of their first full-length, another eponymous effort that is being co-released by Going Underground and Square Wave Records. In addition, there will be a new 7″ on HoZac and a full-scale U.S. tour slated for this summer. So, if mind-shredding noise-punk and (potentially) getting kicked in the face by a guitar-wielding, be-masked psychopath sounds like the perfect night out, make sure to catch them as they steamroll their way through a town near you this June/July.
Francis Harold And The Holograms – “The Eagle Can’t Fly With One Wing”
There’s been a little buzz building here and there about Zola Jesus — we were lucky enough to see her at SxSW — and we’d like to take this opportunity to turn the buzz up to 11. She’s Nika Danilova, she’s 19 and the quote on her MySpace says it all: “fear the banshee.”
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