NEW TRACK: KÁRYYN – ‘Anthem For Those Who Know’

A poignant statement of self autonomy and the significance of advocating for yourself and others in the face of adversity, Armenian-American songwriter, composer & producer KÁRYYN has shared her latest single, ‘Anthem For Those Who Know’. Marking her first new music release in four years, the track is a defiant return to form for the musician, who seeks to motivate and comfort listeners through her determined vocals and potent lyrics, which soar over her considered instrumentation.

Co-produced with Hudson Mohawke and released via Mute, ‘Anthem For Those Who Know’ is a rumination on the importance of protest in all its forms. “I wanted to give this song to you now because I think it speaks to the moment,” KÁRYYN explains about the new release. “It’s about standing up with the magnitude of peace in the face of violence of any kind. This was my own personal protest song for the last few years, for myself and for my life.

The message of this song is about liberation; personal and collective. My hope is that it inspires strength in anyone who needs it, to speak truth to power, and cut through bullshit and illusions to say: ‘I’m not going to let fear imprison or silence me.’ I know what it’s like to be alone and afraid of being punished for speaking up. I also know the immense freedom that arises from embracing your worth & using your voice for the truth. If nothing else, know that you’re not alone, and if no one else knows, I know.”

Finding strength in the repetition of her mantra-like chorus – “I will be the collider / you will be dark matter / we will not be afraid / we will not be silenced ever” – KÁRYYN seeks to acknowledge and overcome the damaging effects of the past, and move forward with hope and peace into the future.

Listen to ‘Anthem For Those Who Know’ below.

Follow KÁRYYN on bandcamp, Spotify, Instagram, Facebook & X

Photo Credit: Allyson Schnaidt

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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LISTEN: GIHE on Soho Radio with Scrounge (08.01.24)

New Year, New Music! Tash and Kate were back on Soho Radio’s airwaves for Get In Her Ears first show of 2024, playing loads of new music from some of their favourite female, non-binary and LGBTQIA+ artists. Mari offered some of her “musical musings” too. Artists featured on the eclectic playlist included Big Joanie, NewDad, Katy Kirby, Jaed, Cutty, Baby Rose, Vyva Melinkolya, Laura Misch, Roller Derby, Kllo, Liv Wynter, CHERYM, Riotmiloo…and more.

GIHE faves Lucy and Luke from South London duo Scrounge also came into the studio to chat about their recent performance at Third Man Records, the award-winning artwork on their debut album Sugar, Daddy, and their upcoming trip to New York to play New Colossus festival. They also recounted some of their highlights of 2023, including a whirlwind tour with tee-side noise punks Benefits, which involved a lot of long distance driving, and a lot of early starts.

Listen back to the show below:

 

We’ll be back on Soho Radio on Monday 5th February from 12-2pm!
 Make sure you tune in via www.sohoradiolondon.com

Tracklist
Big Joanie – New Year
chlothegod ft. Baby Rose – Bless Your Heart pt. 2
Isaac Delusion, Olivia Merilahti – All day
NewDad – Nightmares
SPRINTS – Heavy
Thermal – 18
Laura Misch – Hide to Seek
Jaed – All Abandon
Cutty – Overdrive (Garage Mix)
Shygirl, Cosha – thicc
This Mortal Coil – Song To the Siren
Erika Severyns – Ireland
Softcult – Heaven
Vyva Melinkolya – Song About Staying
Chelsea Wolfe – Tunnel Lights
Scrounge – Corner Cutting Boredom
**Interview with Scrounge**
Liv Wynter – Violence
Riotmiloo – Define Normal
Kllo – Affection
Ghost Marrow – Might Of The Small
CHERYM – It’s Not Me It’s You
Bikini Kill – Rebel Girl
Katy Kirby – Hand To Hand
Roller Derby – Always on My Mind
Chappell Roan – Pink Pony Club
Mary J. Blige – Family Affair

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FIVE FAVOURITES: Dermabrasion

Creators of brooding gothic anthems that rumble with discontent, Toronto-based duo Dermabrasion are preparing to release their upcoming debut album, Pain Behaviour, on 26th January via Hand Drawn Dracula.

Formed of Adam Bernhardt and Kat McGouran, Dermabrasion bonded over a shared fascination with punk music, the occult and the corporeal form. Inspired by Roman Catholicism, LaVeyan Satanism, genre fiction and how this literature affects humanity’s outlook on power, shame and duty, Dermabrasion’s Pain Behaviour is a formidable concoction of post-punk, industrial and metal influences, culminating in a sound they’ve coined as “death rock and roll.”

We think one of the best ways to get to know a band is by asking what music inspired them to write in the first place. We caught up with Adam and Kat to ask about their “Five Favourites” – five albums that have inspired their songwriting techniques. Check out their choices below and scroll down to listen to their latest single ‘Magic Missile’ at the end of this post…

 

1. Sisters of Mercy – Floodland
Kat: Not going to pretend we are too cool to love this heater of a classic. We wanted to share albums versus songs because recording a full-length release and looking at it as a cohesive statement was a new thing for us. But some of our shared staples, like this one, showcase the form so well. From the drums and guitar striking like thunder and lightning in the first seconds of “Dominion” (always let it play all the way through) to its swampy final conclusion, Floodland weaves its tonal and atmospheric motifs throughout every track. Not a concept record, but with a distinct feeling of beginning, middle and end. Not a rock opera, just Daddy Eldritch in his most megalomaniacal era, seeing how far he can push the camp and bombast that he says is satire but probably comes from a very earnest place. Using big words and existential concepts to divine personal meaning; sax solos, runtimes that prolong undeniably solid grooves to the point of a game of chicken. The dark and indulgent excess is magnificent and I want to bathe in it.

Adam: It will never not be funny that Andrew Eldritch recorded an 11-minute diss track with a 40-piece choir and harpsichord.

2. The Mall – Zone
Adam: This album will make you want to buy a synth. I mean I did, I bought two. I think I found this album through the YouTube algorithm, which is always nice. I listened to it quite a bit over the course of lockdown and the pandemic, and I used to play it a lot when I went back to work over the intercom. They called it ‘weird spacey music.’ They also fired me. The album, though, is great. It’s an interesting mix of EBM and synth pop but hardcore. Songs like ‘Habit’ or ‘An Answer’ are absolute earworms, and they’ve got some really great mournful melodies that I eat right up. I guess it kind of evokes a liminal space in a dead mall, or maybe I’m reaching a bit, but I love it all the same. Also, if you get a chance to see them live, watching them is a real treat. They do it all without a DAW, which is crazy!

3. Special Interest – The Passion Of
Kat: The Passion Of feels like where Special Interest distills its years of experimentation and chaos and tour and, and, and, and, into its defining sound and statement as a recorded group as much as a legendary live performance act. The live chaos and urgency transmutes to an oppressive and textured noise fog, dynamic enough for listeners to pick out a different nuance each time. Alli Logout’s vocal performance just sends me. Hardcore as fuck, hitting incredible notes, each of which delivering a different shade of emotion for every word, speech, homily, manifesto, whether sung, screamed, chanted, spoken, proselytized. I could reserve all those nouns and verbs for “Street Pulse Beat” alone. The dirty, groovy drum and synth tracks, crunchy bass tones, the words, the mood, the vibe. I listened to this album a lot while sick and housebound during the pandemic and it seeped deep into my bones. A fitting soundtrack to mourn an old life, sexily, and summon forth a new one.

Special Interest came through our city a couple times between 2017-2019 and made a massive impression on us. It was the “DISCO” era and I remember their sound and performance feeling really transgressive, especially with what I understood to be the ‘rules’ for aggressive guitar music at the time. It was my first time experiencing music that felt and looked hardcore, ferocious, that took up the same space as any d-beat or powerviolence band’s live drums with electronic beats. You wanted to throw down but also watch and listen because they brought such a distinct attitude and confrontational point of view.

I had such a limited tolerance for what I would accept as “worthy” musically, going into my 20s, and am still trying to outgrow this macho bullshit about things needing to be “heavy” to be worthwhile. But to some degree this was/is a reflection of (and overcorrection against) the attitudes around me, and this band has been here providing a reference point for how to be hardcore, but be sexy about it, provocative, dancey, confrontational in a more distinct way. Just straight up different, but bringing the same feeling and energy to the sound and crowd.

4. Godflesh – Streetcleaner
Adam: I never listened to much metal growing up because all the metal guys I grew up with were bigoted assholes, and the punk v. metal divide seemed so very important back then. I forget how exactly I heard of Godflesh but a metal band with Swans, Big Black and Killing Joke influences definitely caught my interest. That they did that all without a drummer was just weird enough to sell it to me. All their albums are great, but I think Streetcleaner is probably my favorite. Man, is this album GRIM. The atmosphere is so oppressive, so bleak, so heavy. It’s the Silent Hill pain dimension with drop-tuned guitars. Justin Broadrick is able to evoke such brutal imagery with his guitar, and G.C. Green’s bass playing is so pummeling, it all serves to create this hypnotic wall of sound that oozes discomfort. Misanthropy in its purest form. Godflesh are super creative with their drum machine patterns, and I always find something new whenever I listen to them.

5. Danzig – Danzig
Kat: Unironically and unapologetically my favourite record. I love Danzig in every era, it’s hard to choose just one album. But I think what endears me to Danzig most is that he is just simply unwilling or unable to be anything other than exactly who he is, and to me this album is the clearest statement of that.

If I have the timeline right, most of these songs were written and in the process of being recorded while Samhain was still a thing. Releasing an album under his own name meant Danzig wouldn’t have to deal with lineup change issues, but he was still bitter and had something to prove. And he still had that death rock stank on him.

It just feels like there was so much riding on this release that he could have gone too far to ~realize~ his ~vision~. But then you have literally Rick Rubin telling you what to do and who to get to make it sound absolutely perfect. Cooking all of Danzig’s angst and ambition and hubris down to its most concentrated form, removing from it anything extraneous, for a thrifty 40 minutes of relentless howling into a sparse, airless void above the band’s tight and driving grooves. It shouldn’t be anything more. It is exactly enough. And he needed to yield some control so he didn’t sabotage himself.

Reading this back it all just sounds like what I really like is the narrative I’ve created in my head from the lore of this album which–there you go, that’s it really. I have a parasocial relationship with this record.

Adam: Danzig benefits from having someone who isn’t Danzig behind the dials (or film camera).

P.S. Please give us a round of applause as two insufferable and very online music forum nerds of the 2010s who neither once here used the word “angular.” Disclosing for accountability that a second use of the phrase “wall of sound” was removed in editing. (lol)

Check out Dermabrasion’s latest single ‘Magic Missile’ below

Pre-order Dermabrasion’s debut album Pain Behaviour here

Follow Dermabrasion on bandcamp, Spotify & Instagram

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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INTERVIEW: House Of Women

Fresh from performing alongside Coach Party and Bedroom High Club at London’s Omeara, Hackney-based alt-rock trio House Of Women are reflecting on a productive year. From playing knockout sets at All Points East and 2000trees festivals in the summer, to self-releasing their debut EP, People Printing, in November; together, Elsa Malazogu (guitar), Poppy Miller (guitar) and Kyla Lanai (vocals, piano) have created a compelling sound and statement that hints at a band with truly exciting potential.

We caught up with the trio to talk about their roots, their inspirations, and the pros and cons that come with independently releasing your own music…

Hello Poppy, Kyla and Elsa! For anyone who doesn’t already know, can you tell us how you first met and formed House Of Women?

Poppy: Me and Kyla met at a music collage in East London, we started writing some songs together and came up with the name. We saw Elsa at a college rehearsal and I remember seeing this tiny girl on stage, but she stood out so well. We asked her if she was in a band already, she said she was, however never mentioned this mystery band ever again. Here we are…

Kyla: Poppy and I were in the same year in college and became friends because of it. I remember us talking about how we both had always wanted to start a band and decided to start writing some music together over the summer. Elsa was the year below us and we met her while we were watching one of her project rehearsals in college. We saw her playing and thought we’d ask her to come and try a rehearsal with us.

Elsa: From the first industry lesson I took joining music college, I picked House of Women as one of the artists on the list to listen to in class – having no idea ‘what’ it was. After having a listen and instantly loving the demo, I then surprisingly saw the two piece (Kyla and Poppy) live which sparked a memory for me back to that industry lesson. Couple days later, whilst rehearsing for my first project at school, I was approached by Kyla and Poppy after hearing some good reviews about my playing, where they asked the special question “do you want to jam sometime?” The rest was history… although they may say I was ‘playing hard to get’, I was definitely in a casual band before!

Sometimes playing hard to get (even if you actually aren’t) is the way to go! Congratulations on releasing your debut EP, People Printing, back in November. What are you most proud of about this record?

Poppy: Thank you! I’m most proud of the sound we have curated so far and the songwriting. I also love the seamlessness from ‘Elsa’s Lullaby’ going into ‘The Arc’.

Kyla: Personally, I’m proud of the songwriter that I have become by writing with House of Women. I think that we have started to really develop our own sound and that’s something that you can hear on the EP.

Elsa: This EP release has been our biggest project yet! The thing I’m most proud about is the structure of the EP. I strongly feel that it has a good flow from start to end, and thought deeply about the journey we wanted [people to have] whilst listening to 27 minutes of House of Women. Like our songs, we jump from soft verses/instrumentals to belting vocals and heavy distorted guitars; you get a strong sense of what House of Women is from People Printing.

Your sound is informed by lots of seminal 90s bands: Alice in Chains, Mazzy Star, PJ Harvey, Sonic Youth, Nick Cave and Jeff Buckley. Can you tell us what it is about these artists that inspired you to write your own music?

Poppy: I love the chords Jeff Buckley uses. They can be so bright and beautiful, matching his voice, but also heavy and dark at times. I love the rotations and progressions he writes; it all feels very cyclical.

Kyla: I always focus on vocalists and how different people add their vocals to instrumentals. I think that Alice in Chains, Mazzy Star and Jeff Buckley are my biggest inspirations because they all have vocals that really compliment the songs and add something relevant to them rather than take over.

Elsa: From my perspective of writing, I am a hard Alice in Chains’= fan, in all elements. Jerry Cantrell’s melodies and original grunge sound is very inspiring to me. We fit in with them as they have an equal share of rhythm and lead guitars as well as a large vocal range that Lane Stayley has. Or, I just love them to be honest…

You self-released your EP, People Printing. What are the pros and cons of this independent process? What advice would you give to bands or artists who are contemplating doing the same?

Poppy: It’s scary just putting stuff into the world hoping it gets noticed, but also very freeing. We just went into the studio and did what we wanted. Highly recommend.

Kyla: I think that it’s definitely scary to put yourself out there alone and release music for everyone to hear, but I would say take all of the opportunities that you can get and start as soon as you can.

Elsa: We went through EMU bands for our distribution process which was quite straightforward and a quick process. Originally we tried CD Baby, however there was difficulty with the American tax system therefore we had to switch to avoid complications and potentially paying more – that’s up to you to decide of course. Personally, I think it gets difficult when connecting your PRS account (which I should complete actually…) and knowing when the best time is to apply for playlists.

Do you have a favourite track on the EP? If so, why?

Poppy: I love ‘Elsa’s Lullaby’, It’s just so cool. ‘Hypocrite’ is a tune though.

Kyla: I think that ‘Few Too Many Times’ will always hold a special place in my heart, but ‘Hypocrite’ is one that I am proudest of both lyrically and vocally.

Elsa: I could easily say ‘Elsa’s Lullaby’ but I’m going to think further away than just my name. Even though it presents a dark, atmospheric feel with a dissonant melody that will keep you on edge, I have to say that I love ‘Hypocrite’. Our longest song YET. Especially our 2 minute long bridge that returns back to the headbanging riff that everyone loves! Mmmmhh It’s a good end to the EP.

You’ve played some great gigs this year, including a headline show at Notting Hill Arts Club and festival slots at All Points East and 2000trees. Tell us some of the highlights from these performances?

Poppy: I loved our Notting Hill Arts Club EP release. The room had so much energy and sweat it was beautiful. I left my guitar feeding back on the stage floor before coming back for an encore, It definitely felt pretty rockstar.

Kyla: I think that 2000 Trees was a big highlight of the year for me, because of how beautiful the stage was and the festival overall had an amazing atmosphere. I loved Notting Hill Arts club because it was one of the best crowds we’ve ever had with so much interaction from the audience.

Elsa: I’m very grateful for opportunities such as All Points East and 2000 Trees. The feeling of being backstage with other artists and playing your own songs on a massive stage is a great accomplishment. Oh, Also having my brother sent to the hospital at the end of 2000 Trees was a highlight! Maybe crowd surfing isn’t for everyone…

That sounds intense. He’s clearly your most dedicated fan.

We know you’ve been busy releasing your own music, but is there an EP or album that you have loved listening to from another band/artist this year?

Poppy: I’m gonna have to say LoggerHead by Wu-Lu. I’m late to it though, it was released in 2022. But definitely been one of my faves I’ve been listening to this year.

Kyla: I’ve really been enjoying Volcano by Jungle and although it was actually release in 2018 I have just discovered and have really been enjoying Errorzone by Vein.fm.

Elsa: Apart from the one and only EP People Printing, next in line has to be GLOW ON by Turnstile in 2021. I absolutely love their nasty breakdowns with a touch of percussion and catchy melodies. You will catch me headbanging at a Turnstile concert for sure with our manager Danny. I’m forcing you

Finally, can you tell us any plans House Of Women might have for new music in 2024?

Poppy: We’ve been writing loads and loads and we’re hoping to get back in the studio ASAP.

Kyla: We have some new songs that I would love for us to record…

Elsa: New music New music New music! Definitely coming your way. Although, nothing ready to release just yet, we have plans set, might even surprise you…

Follow House Of Women on YouTube, Spotify, (X), Instagram and via their Official Website

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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