Melissa Auf Der Maur

The former Hole bassist and songstress in her own right, Melissa auf der maur has just released a promo video for the title track of her second full length  album, Out Of Our Minds, due out May 4th, which is  the first release since her 2004 debut. The video sees Melissa journey deep into the woods after a car crash. The new release is described as a multimedia project with this music video being the first chapter of a larger story. The video can be seen at the official Auf Der Maur webpage, and for a period, signing up to receive updates via her mailing-list will give you access to an exclusive free download of the single.

OUT OF OUR MINDS MUSIC VIDEO from MAdM OOOM on Vimeo.

The site details the  Out Of Our Minds album as being accompanied by a comic book, film and web experience to list the project in its entirety.

Exploring the OOOM section of Melissa’s site gifts you with a wealth of content on the project which is still being developed including an additional trailer to the Movie component. The film, comic and music video all tie together similar imagery and sentiments which came out of the music during the composition of this album.

Filmmaker, Tony Stone, creator of the Viking Film “Severed Ways” embarked on a collaboration to tell the story of OOOM in Moving Pictures.  with a score provided byThe Entance Band

The Comic book is a bloody yet monochrome story with a xerox, homemade and hamdmade zine aesthetic to it created in association with illustrator “The Hebrew God”.  Snippets of this and his other works can be found here.

For further information on every aspect of this project and to hear samples of other tracks from the album visit the O.O.O.M section of Melissa Auf Der Maur’s Official site with specific information on the film available at OOOMFILM.

Opening with absolute zero subtlety is “Apocalypse Yesterday” by Reaver, a fantastic mix of synth and sample, destined to be a club classic, with twisted vocals and repetition of “This is the end” providing a fantastic soundtrack to possibly a rave club in Transylvania on December 23rd, 2012…..

More EBM-oriented tracks follow, especially with “Gottes Zorn”  by Menschdefekt Feat. Stahlnebel vs Black Selket, providing good old fashioned German (I assume!) vocals over a multi-layered soundscape. Machine Wraith’s “Everyone Connected” is a fantastic track, moving along at a fantastic pace while carrying a vicious vocal assault throughout the song. Backing off the aggression is a fantastic electro track “Spite” by Rezumaki, a welcome break from the aural pounding (in a good way) and has a very ambient, chill-out quality to it.

For the industrial rock fans out there, tracks like “Kiss The Future” by Virgins Never Die, “At The Rate I’m Falling” by Direct Injection and “Virus” by Industry are fantastic stand out tracks on this compilation. Keeping the right mix of guitar and keyboard, vocal hooks and melody, they feel right at home on this cd, and are definately bands to be looking out for in the future.

KAlt’s “Sweet Suicide” is a beautiful song which will appease the goth/darkwave fans out there, with a gorgeous piano motif playing over an electronic beat, and the female vocals with provide an ethereal, fragile quality to a brilliant track which makes you wonder why this band aren’t bigger. Check them out on their Myspace.

Other fantastic tracks on an album full of high quality material are “Goth Kid” by Wolf 359, sampling Stan and Kyle from South Park’s “Raisins” episode very effectively into a brilliant dance tune, and “Lightstorm” by T3RROR 3RROR, a very catchy track (if such a thing exists in the EBM World) which has a synth hook to die for and a beat so energetic and powerful that it feels wrong to listen to outside of a club environment. Angels on Acid’s “Salvation” is a top slice of industrial/trance that gets inside your brain on first listen, it’s a song you would love to hear over and over.  Making a welcome appearance in this compilation is “My Metatronics” by Psyborg Corp, the cyber crew from Bogota, Columbia. If you like this track check out our previous article on the band here.

There is a lot more hard dance/EBM on this album than metal/industrial, however there is literally no filler and every band on this CD has contributed a high quality track that would not feel out of place at your local Nunnery of Noise or extreme clubbing night. Sure, this will not suit everyone’s taste, but in a niche market these are the bands you want to be watching out for. There is a lot of shit electronic music out there, this CD is an example of what happens when it’s done right.

Dark Mourning Promotions, thank you for a great Halloween present!

[OXking]