Spectres – Nostalgia Label: Artoffact Records – AOF358CD Format: CD, Album, Stereo Country: Canada Released: Mar 13, 2020 Style: Post-Punk
Formed in Vancouver by vocalist and founder Brian Gustavson, SPECTRES is a DIY death-rock outfit that mixes post-punk, the ethic of anarcho-punk, and an incredible knack for writing catchy songs. The band released three independent albums (all reissued by Artoffact Records in 2019) and are ready to stun audiences with their 2020 release Nostalgia. Emerging from the DIY Punk underground, SPECTRES wanted to blend the grassroots and independent ethic of anarcho-punk with the anomie and cold, modulated sounds of 1980’s post-punk and death-rock genres.
Though the band’s output has matured with time to embrace a wider range of new-wave and shoegaze influences, their ethos remains rooted in DIY punk. The blending of these influences allows for the curious juxtaposition of 80’s influenced pop sensibilities with lyrics that explore the alienation and cynicism of modern life. On the new album, Nostalgia, these influences are carried even further to create a wonderfully crafted suite of songs that evoke the primal sounds of Beastmilk with the melody of New Order.
Spectres – Nothing To Nowhere Label: Artoffact Records – AOF356CD Format: CD, Album Country: Canada Released: 2018 Style: Post-Punk, Punk
Originally released in 2012 as a vinyl-only edition through Germany’s Sabotage Records (White Lung, G.L.O.S.S., Arctic Flowers), the second album from Vancouver post-punk darlings SPECTRES has never been released on CD. Finally, years after the initial vinyl pressing sold out, Toronto-based Artoffact Records breathes new life into this Canadian classic with a remastered CD edition.
Wind Atlas – Lingua Ignota Label: Gradual Hate Records – GH139 CD, Twilight Records – TW 1.156 Format: CD, Album Country: Spain Released: June 2018 Style: Darkwave, Folk, Psychedelic Rock, Post-Punk, Experimental
/// SOLD OUT ///
Recorded and mixed by Javier Ortiz Fullton at Estudios Brazil in december 2014. Studio Assistant: Marcos Bandera. Mastered at Yves Roussel Mastering by Yves Roussel in january 2015. Cover art is “Magic Circle” (1886) by John William Waterhouse. Artwork designed by Raúl Q. de Orte.
Credits Backing Vocals – Raúl Pérez Pérez, Raúl Q. De Orte, Sergi Alejandre Bass – Iván Montero Bouzouki – Sergi Alejandre Drums – Raúl Pérez Pérez Guitar – Sergi Alejandre Lead Vocals – Andrea Pérez Mastered By – Ives Roussel Mixed By – Javier Ortiz Recorded By – Javier Ortiz Santoor – Raúl Pérez Pérez Synth – Raúl Q. De Orte
Wind Atlas’ music has gained in nuances, drifting smoothly from dark dream-pop and new-wave passages (which remind us of Dead Can Dance) to gloomy postpunk atmospheres similar to those of Crispy Ambulance, Durruti Column or In Camera. Music to think of an unknown continent, to look for the lost alchemical formula, to eventually discover Talos the robot hurling rocks at the Argonauts. Music that requires to do nothing but listen, a task that nowadays appears almost impossible.
The message is conveyed in an imagined language from a terra incognita, the lingua ignota. Each song is like an accent or a period, like a comma, a verse, a whole chapter of a liturgical chant. Gibberish for those who relish the best soundtrack by Basil Poledouris and the 4AD catalogue.
The album was recorded in Estudio Brazil (Madrid) with Javier Ortiz and mastered in Yves Roussel Mastering (Barcelona).
“Wind Atlas, if “Ecdisis” is any indication, sound a bit like Sioux Sioux after the Banshees broke up, if she had gone in a more interesting direction. Or maybe if Peter Murphy had started a project with Sioux Sioux? Something like that. Truth is, it doesn’t matter once those early Edge/Chameleons guitars, full of melodic urgency despite their simplicity, hit; the ritualistic feel of the backing turns up their immediacy even more, to the point where the whole composition seems to depend on them.
But that voice, ringing through the ether, also needs something, anything, to happen, lest the sands of time swallow her whole. It’s a mystical, otherworldly trip…“
La música de Wind Atlas es rica en detalles, deslizándose refinadamente de oscuros pasajes dream pop new wave (que bien traen a la memoria a Dead can Dance) a la bruma de atmósferas postpunk que podían hacer grupos como Crispy Ambulance, Durruti Column o In camera.
Música para pensar en un continente no conocido, buscando una formula alquímica perdida, y acabar descubriendo al robot de Talos apedreando argonautas. Mejor dejémoslo así, en no hacer nada mientras se escucha, una tarea que se nos plantea hoy en día imposible.
El mensaje se proyecta en un idioma imaginado de una terra incógnita, la lengua ignota. Cada canción es como una tilde o un punto, como una coma, un versículo, un capitulo entero de un canto litúrgico. Un galimatías entre quienes disfrutan de la mejor banda sonora compuesta por Basil Poledouris y el catalogo de 4AD.
1.Eurydice’s Chant 02:38 2.Sound Of Gold, Rhythm Of Jade 05:17 3.The Sun Rises 03:47 4.Hylé 02:40 5.Stalker 05:13 6.The Goddess Is Where It Is Venerated 05:43 7.Ecdisis 04:44 8.Demona 06:35 9.The Joy Of The Auloniad 02:30
