#10 AnD When Stars Collide
I don’t care what kind of music you are into, if you don’t go ape shit for the new AnD album When Stars Collide via Instruments of Discipline on you need your ears checked! This artist is reshaping dance music into an audio storm of PURE RADNESS! This human has manifested a pulsating sound that takes from Jungle, Techno, and Industrial only to become something that’ i’s all of their own!
#9 Violent Magic Orchestra DEATH RAVE
Ready for techno that will rearrange your mindstate? Here it is — VIOLENT MAGIC ORCHESTRA brings audio chaos and visual violence on every song! Their record DEATH RAVE is out on Never Sleep Records, with features from artists like Attila Csihar and Dylan Walker.
#8 KING YOSEF Cut The Cord/Shame’s Mirror
Fuck the dumb shit, KING YOSEF is all that and way fucking more! His music is extremely caustic extremely thrilling and extremely sick AF! I can’t front, as I blast his music I find myself feeling like my whole being is being trapped inside of an off-kilter serial killer cyborg! His song “Cut The Cord” kicks you in the chest like hearing the gnarliest Hardcore song and gets all deep into your reality. Next up is the song “Shame’s Mirror” that makes me feel like I’m walking the streets of Manchester on a rainy day looking at all of the deserted factories. KING YOSEF can create music that is as intense as hell while still being full of emotions. I fucking love want he is doing with Sound Space and Machines! His record from last year, An Underlying Hum, is golden as well. I could tell y’all his influences from the past, but why do that when KING YOSEF is pointing all of us to the future?
#7 UNIFORM American Standard
I read this before I started listening to American Standard, but even without the context I would have felt the pain, frustration, perseverance, resilience, and despair that’s rife throughout its run time. Title track “American Standard” is 21 minutes of thundering intensity, bellowing and calamitous, confrontational, with an undercurrent of looming triumph. “This is Not a Prayer” comes in like an audio attack, part man part machine and ready to grind skin from bones. “Clemency” is anything but merciful, although at first it promises more tender treatment, it quickly spirals into brutal destruction. “Permanent Embrace” surrounds me in sounds that swirl from harrowing black metal to vicious sludge to pummelling industrial to expansive post rock — and it’s got elements of all of these but none of them at the same time — and closes out on me like a casket. What an experience. One that I’m relieved to step out of, but one that I’ll return to time and again.
#6 MELDAMOR MY ODE TO YOU
Gothic electronic duo MELDAMOR’s single “UNDERGROUND” is another menacingly seductive banger! Their record My Ode to You is out now for their first ever vinyl release, but it’s already sold out so you’re going to have to stream it here while you wait for a repress. “UNDERGROUND” sounds like a new underground classic, with Dave’s masterful heavy synths and thumping beats paired with Mel’s bewitching vocals. MELDAMOR wrote this song about how they deal with haters — the same way we do, just keep it positive and keep it moving — and that’s probably why they get so much love on CVLT Nation!
#5 DJ ANDERSON DO PARAISO Queridão
It’s a vibe thang, or should I say, it’s a DJ Anderson do Paraiso thang! His album Queridão came out via the always FIRE Nyege Nyege Tapes, and the production is epic and haunting. All of the MCs bring their A-Game and draw you into their world with sick wordplay and flows. DJ Anderson do Paraiso’s skills as a producer are beyond on point and love the way that he creates so much tension with his production style. That being said, the fact that he thinks out of the box when it comes to his sampling only adds another level of sonic perfection! I can’t help but think about how awesome it would be to go to Brazil and see him and his crew perform live! DJ Anderson do Paraiso has created a favela funk album in his likeness while breaking every rule in the book. This fact is the reason why I’m addicted to Queridão, Real Talk! Yo Nyege Nyege Tapes — thanks for pushing the culture forward, and to DJ Anderson do Paraiso, U KILLED IT!
#4 CPU-1 Hardwired
Babylon released the chains from our bodies and placed them on our brains! Personally, dance music acts as an audio key that frees my brain from bondage. It’s true that when the music hits you feel no pain! This is why the CPU-1 tape Hardwired makes me feel some form of happiness in this crazy-ass world! As I bump tracks like “Insurgency” and “Exodus,” I can’t help but get lost in the basslines that pulsate out of my speakers, pointing me to my future! CPU-1 is a spot-on producer that never over-crowds their songs with sounds. They do an awesome job of allowing the beats to breathe, and they use space as an instrument unto themselves. I honestly see underground dance culture as an extension of underground punk culture. On so many levels, both communities are cut from the same outsider cloth! I want to give a BIG SHOUT OUT to L.A.U.R.A. for pushing our culture forward. Yo CPU-1, I want you to know that you killed it and I will be bumping this tape for years to come!
#3 MAELSTROM & LOUISAHHH May the Rage Burn a Path for Joy
Excuse me as I dance on the graves of our downpressors! Excuse me as I amplify the voices of of the voiceless! Excuse me as i turn y’all the in your face Techno of Maelstrom & Louisahhh. Their album May the Rage Burn a Path for Joy out on RAAR is the BOMB! This is subversive Techno created by Punks for Punks! I can’t from I love every song on this offering! I’m stoked that we are premiering their new visual “Hate Machine” below plus a cool interview! Yo Maelstrom & Louisahhh I want y’all to know that I’m over the moon for May the Rage Burn a Path for Joy — RESPECT DUE!!! Read Full Feature Here.
#2 SPEARE Evil Despair
SPEARE’s Evil Despair is a dance record that makes me feel like I want to dance on the graves of my downpressors and celebrate their demise! I can’t help but get lost in the hypnotic sounds of this project! Honestly, y’all should know that Evil Despair was released by one of my favorite labels SYNTHETIC PLEASURES everything that they put out is unreal. I want the creator of SPEARE to know that have have big-time fans over here at CVLT Nation!
#1 LUST$ICK PUPPY CAROUSEL FROM HELL
WTF, Lust$ickPuppy’s CAROUSEL FROM HELL is Punk AF! WTF, Lust$ickPuppy’s CAROUSEL FROM HELL is it’s own Sonic Solar System! WTF, Lust$ickPuppy’s CAROUSEL FROM HELL is an Audio Hallucinogenic Tab of Awesomeness! If you ever felt insecure about waving your freak flag, all you have to do is listen to this album, because it’s nothing but freedom of expression! Imagine if Atari Teenage Riot, Grace Jones, Wendy O, Parliament, A.R.E. Weapons, Suicide, and New York City itself all shape-shifted into one creative entity — the outcome would only be half as brilliant as Lust$ickPuppy’s CAROUSEL FROM HELL. This human has manifested a collection of songs that defy genres and the need to fit into the stereotypes that society has tried to imprison our spirits in. When I hear tunes like “AMERICAN HEALTHCARE,” I know for a fact that there is nothing we can’t achieve! Lust$ickPuppy has skills on so many levels, from rapping to screaming out incendiary lyrics of change! I love it when they flip the script and sing, because it makes for the perfect juxtaposition against their intense dance beats! Their flow on “EVICTION” is fucking sublime and I can’t help myself from pressing replay. I want Lust$ickPuppy to know that from my point of view, I consider them to be one of the illest in the game and with every release I become more of a fan. With each listen of CAROUSEL FROM HELL you will find yourself saying, WTF, Lust$ickPuppy is SICK AF!
