27 Jan 2011 — Henning Lahmann
At No Fear Of Pop, we don't have a category called "
Zoned In" like the friendly folks over at the internet's
darkest zone. But if we had, and damn isn't this a neat introduction,
Terror Bird's new LP would clearly be featured on it, cause frankly,
Human Culture is my favorite record in the world right now.
After a few tapes on
Night People and
Scotch Tapes, and an acclaimed 7 inch on
Atelier Ciseaux and
La Station Radar, the proper debut full-length of this Vancouver group has been long awaited and highly anticipated. The 13 songs collected on
Human Nature easily meet those expectations, the album is nothing short of a breathtaking listen from start to finish, an amazing piece of haunting and ethereal pop music, shamelessly beautiful piano and keyboard arrangements that linger somewhere between new wave and glam, led by singer Nikki Never's outstanding voice and all drenched in an indistinct fog of reverb.
It is obvious that Terror Bird make rather dark music. But despite their name and contrary to the exponents of the superseded witch house movement, with whom they are sometimes carelessly and stupidly lumped together, the trio around Nikki Never is not obsessed with darkness, but with classic pop structures and harmonies. Triangles are not to be found here. And the shadows themselves, covering the songs like hoar frost at dawn, never appear to be ends in themselves or to serve as sad, reference-glutted post-apocalyptic jokes about contemporary popular culture. Instead, the album's gloomy and sometimes eerie tone convincingly sublimates Never's anxieties, without ever ending up in self-pity. In this sense, her approach is similar to the work of
Chelsea Wolfe, whose haunting sounds are also honest means of expression and not cheap effects to attract the crowd gathered around the Petrine Cross. "Fear is such an awful thing", Never sings in
Keep Me Haunted, and who were we to disagree?
Human Culture is out now as a split release between Iowa's
Night People and the Berlin based imprint
Adagio830.
Order here, the first 200 copies come on beautiful clear vinyl. In case you've missed the point until now, this is a highly recommended piece of art and officially the first aspirant for this year's top ten - mind my words.
Terror Bird - Make Believe
Terror Bird - Keep Me Haunted
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At No Fear Of Pop, we don't have a category called "
Zoned In" like the friendly folks over at the internet's
darkest zone. But if we had, and damn isn't this a neat introduction,
Terror Bird's new LP would clearly be featured on it, cause frankly,
Human Culture is my favorite record in the world right now.
After a few tapes on
Night People and
Scotch Tapes, and an acclaimed 7 inch on
Atelier Ciseaux and
La Station Radar, the proper debut full-length of this Vancouver group has been long awaited and highly anticipated. The 13 songs collected on
Human Nature easily meet those expectations, the album is nothing short of a breathtaking listen from start to finish, an amazing piece of haunting and ethereal pop music, shamelessly beautiful piano and keyboard arrangements that linger somewhere between new wave and glam, led by singer Nikki Never's outstanding voice and all drenched in an indistinct fog of reverb.
It is obvious that Terror Bird make rather dark music. But despite their name and contrary to the exponents of the superseded witch house movement, with whom they are sometimes carelessly and stupidly lumped together, the trio around Nikki Never is not obsessed with darkness, but with classic pop structures and harmonies. Triangles are not to be found here. And the shadows themselves, covering the songs like hoar frost at dawn, never appear to be ends in themselves or to serve as sad, reference-glutted post-apocalyptic jokes about contemporary popular culture. Instead, the album's gloomy and sometimes eerie tone convincingly sublimates Never's anxieties, without ever ending up in self-pity. In this sense, her approach is similar to the work of
Chelsea Wolfe, whose haunting sounds are also honest means of expression and not cheap effects to attract the crowd gathered around the Petrine Cross. "Fear is such an awful thing", Never sings in
Keep Me Haunted, and who were we to disagree?
Human Culture is out now as a split release between Iowa's
Night People and the Berlin based imprint
Adagio830.
Order here, the first 200 copies come on beautiful clear vinyl. In case you've missed the point until now, this is a highly recommended piece of art and officially the first aspirant for this year's top ten - mind my words.
Terror Bird - Make Believe
Terror Bird - Keep Me Haunted
Pretty psyched by this new direction taken by Swedish producer Peter Wikström aka RadioSeed, a terrific, shamelessly catchy dancefloor stomper that surely wouldn't deny its dubstep influences regarding the vocal sample manipulation yet that never leaves unsettled its overall agenda being purest, unapologetic pop perfection. Oh, these Swedes.
(Photo by Tonje Thilesen)
RadioSeed - Escaping the Train of Transformation
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With a lead singer whom I bet has the ability spellbind their audience with his deep, almost Hayden Thorpe of Wild Beasts -like vocals (thanks to