focused music news for week 10 : March 6 to 12 2011

March 8 – KMFDM releases their first single in over nine years, Krank. All multiple versions of “Krank” and “Day of Light”, all of which will not appear on their upcoming LP WTF?! out April 26th. This is KMFDM and you get KMFDM, nothing groundbreaking, yet still good. If anything this provides a glimmer of hope that WTF?! will be great.

March 8 – Combichrist sees their single for “Throat Full Of Glass” get a digital release, physicals will be available April 12th through Metropolis Records. Combichrist started the buzz for this release a few weeks back when they delivered a censored and uncensored video for this song.  This single itself is worth picking up for the thick and juicy “Dub Mix” by Computer Club. Although if you don’t like the song “Throat Full Of Glass” then stay away because there is nothing else on here.

Below is the “clean” video for “Throat Full Of Glass” which still has a lot of T&A and violence, if you want the nudity you can see it on Vimeo.  Is this video the end of Combichrist?  All but Joe Letz and a lone beer.  Make sure you watch the video til the end for the best part.

- Mike

The front man of and mastermind behind Combichrist and vocalist for Icon of Coil reveals how he sins.

Gluttony – If Combichrist was stranded on a desert island, who would be the first member to be eaten for survival? And how long would you hold out until eating them?

I don’t know, the first one to be eaten… I think that would have to be, that would probably be Joey. Because both Z Marr and I are bigger than the other guys, and um… [laughs] Trevor is very good at manipulating so he would probably convince us to eat Joey before him. [laughs] So I guess how long? I don’t know, that would be until we get really hungry I’d guess.

Sloth – You get to plan your ideal vacation with no limitations. Where do you go and what do you do?

I think I would stay at home for a month. And nobody would be allowed to call me. [laughs]

read the full interview in the October/November 2010 Issue

The October/November issue is the twelfth issue of Auxiliary, a magazine dedicated to alternative fashion, music, and lifestyle.  This issue features an interview with Michael Gira of Swans, an interview with Andy LaPlegua of Combichrist, a designer feature on Loved to Death, Bridget Blonde and Mercy St Just as our PinUps, and the art of Michael Mararian.  The issue also contains a vintage meets modern fashion editorial, a fashion editorial full of spooky prints for Halloween, a beauty editorial featuring looks inspired by Vlad the Impaler, Lady Bathory, and more, a Memento Mori inspired style feature, and an editorial by Arden Leigh.  It features photography by Laura Dark, Brent Leideritz, and Ama Lea to name a few, and fashion by Stop Staring, Eve Gravel, Unique Vintage, Rebecca Taylor, Jeffrey Campbell, Dungaree Dolly, Too Fast, Sourpuss, Cinched Tight Corsets, and much much more.

You can download it HERE for free.   Print copies are available online HERE and in stores HERE.  Enjoy!

On March 30th Metropolis Records releases four digital singles; Combichrist’s Scared, Mind.In.A.Box’s  8 Bits, System Syn’s Here’s To You, and Mesh’s How Long.  There will be a physical release of the Combichrist single on May 11th, but I am unsure on any of the others.

Combichrist’s Scarred is their third single of their highly successful album Today We Are All Demons, featuring five remixes, the original, and an extra song “Parental Content”. I did enjoy the “Pull Out Kings Remix”, but overall I felt that the remixes were somewhat unimpressive. The new track “Parental Content” starts off kicking like a good old techno track, with some random samples, and it keeps going that way.  Not your typical Combichrist song, but hey it’s a single and there should be something different on it.

Mind.In.A.Box’s 8-Bits comes off their R.E.T.R.O. album and features three remixes of “8-Bits” and the new track “Last Ninja 2”, which fills the gap of the two tracks on the album, “The Last Ninja III” and “The Last Ninja”. All four tracks are great and the club mix is essentially the track on the album just extended, which as a DJ I felt the album version was too short.

System Syn’s Here’s To You is a single off their forthcoming album Strangers. This seven track single is packed with greatness, you get “Here’s To You” and three remixes of it, a Imperative Reaction remix of “The Inconvenient”, a track called “Lead” and a cover of REM’s “Losing My Religion”.  The single is a strong track with catchy lyrics and just screams play me. This wetted my appetite for the full LP.

Mesh’s How Long, is the second single from their album A Perfect Solution.  This features a club mix for the dance floor, a radio cut for the people suffering with ADD, and an extended version for those with OCD. In addition to this there is an alternate version of “Hold and Restrain” and a new track, “Save Everyone”.

(more…)

Auxiliary Magazine will be at Kinetik Festival again this year!  And this time we’ll have a vendor table!  This will be the third Kinetik, an electro/industrial/noise/hardcore festival in Montreal, Canada.  It will be May 12th through May 16th with many performing including… Leaether Strip, 16 Volt, Chemlab, Gothsicles, Combichrist, Decoded Feedback, FGFC 820, Hocico, Nachtmahr, Memmaker, Rotersand, Melotron, Faderhead, Covenant, and more! Kinetik is one of the most notable festivals in North America, not to be missed. And be sure to stop by our table and say hi!

more info at www.festival-kinetik.net

Combichrist is the brain child and creative baby of Andy LaPlegua, first known here in the States for another of his bands, Icon of Coil.  Andy took time away from that project to create Combichrist’s Kiss the Blade, first released in 2003.  What started out as an exploration of harsh beats and noise has morphed over the course of six years into an aggro/electro industrial project producing four albums and five EPs, as well as a number of remixes.

In the studio, LaPlegua writes and produces the material for Combichrist alone.  When he takes the show on the road the whole project not only comes to life but explodes into full being.  The project has manifested as an exciting and energetic stage act, winding the audience into a frenzied, throbbing hoard bent on losing themselves in the beat.  This kind of high-octane live presentation feeds back into LaPlegua’s studio work for the next Combichrist release, creating a cycle that has an infinitely building momentum.

With live percussion and a commanding stage presence, they pound through each show with fanatical energy, setting this act apart from the sea of contemporary acts that just occupy stage space as their laptops play.  Combichrist seems that they would happily stomp those automatons to dust in their quest to deliver a unforgettable show.  The experience of their live performance in not to by missed and certainly won’t be forgotten by those who’ve lived through it.

Their most current tour adventure, “Demons On Tour”, started off in North America with Black Light Burns before they split off and engaged a European leg.  We caught up with LaPlegua and the current tour line-up, Joe Letz, Z_Marr, and Trevor Friedrich in Toronto just before their show at the Opera House, where they were gracious enough to take the time to meet with us.

photography Jennifer Link
interview Aaron Andrews
Combichrist Live
Andy LaPlegua
Trevor Friedrich
Joe Letz
z_marr

It looks like you’ve got a long tour ahead, US then Europe; do you enjoy being on tour?

Andy – Yes and no.

What do you specifically enjoy, what don’t you enjoy?

Andy – Nah I mean I enjoy being on tour; it’s rough, but it’s cool. It’s what we do, I guess. It’s rougher to not be on tour.
Z_Marr – Never a dull moment.

Is it the variety that entertains you?

Andy – It is just the life on the road, living in a bus, being on the road all the time; that’s basically what I do. When-ever I am at home it’s really weird.
Joey – It’s really hard to do this, it’s fun, but it’s really hard. And once you get home, you are always like, ‘I needed to be home.’ Then after a couple days you are like ‘what the hell am I doing? I got to get on the road.’
Z_Marr – There is this weird decompression period where I run around trying to find things to do and there is nothing. You wake up and you’re like, ‘fuck I missed sound check.’

read the full interview in the April 09 Issue