THE HAXAN CLOAK (Live) // UK "As the mastermind behind ultrablack project the Haxan Cloak, Bobby Krlic orchestrates terror on an unsettlingly intimate level. His music is indebted to dark, filmic motifs especially Wendy Carlos' seasick synth experiments for Stanley Kubrick's 1980 masterpiece The Shining and it's easy to imagine a dismembered man's final breaths while the cracks and rumbles seep through your headphones. His 2009 selftitled debut used traditional instrumentation to pile on the dread; on forthcoming sophomore effort Excavation (out in April via Tri Angle), he takes the inverse approach, wielding creaky samples and cavernous, awesomely disorienting levels of bass. In Krlic's world, no one can hear you scream. Citing doomy inspirations such as Sunn O)) and Earth, the producer's work exudes spookiness right down to his project's name: "Haxan" is Swedish for "witch," a word that seems almost too onthenose considering new label home Tri Angle was once (perhaps unfairly) regarded as the forefather of the oftderided "witch house" microgenre. "That term's not something I've ever taken very seriously, and the label's shifted away from that now," says Krlic. "If that hadn't been the case, I would have been wary of signing with them." Still, Excavation's conceptual arc, which picks up thematically from where his last album left off, spends plenty of time in the graveyard and beyond. "The first record was about a person's decline towards death, so this one's about the journey he takes afterwards," says Krlic. The change in atmosphere is felt within Excavation's digital, Reznorlike hell, a shift from his previous album's mostly organic instrumentation: "Death represents moving away from earth. When I think of sounds that represent the earth, I think about acoustic instruments and field recordings so I went with the opposite of that" via Pitchfork http://pitchfork.com/features/rising/9070thehaxancloak/ NECRO DEATHMORT (Live) // UK "Dwelling within the fittingly polluted surroundings of London's eternally grey haze, AJ Cookson and Matthew Rozeik (aka Necro Deathmort) have only been conjuring up their funereal amalgamation of abrasive industrial beats and lurching drone for a mere five years now, yet over the course of three records, their music has endured more warped mutation than many bands could muster in an entire decade. With the ability to veer seamlessly between dubinfused electronica, pounding sludge and experimental noise often within the space of just one song their music is as intriguingly fresh as it is furiously grim. A bit like walking through an unlit labyrinth with no actual exit: claustrophobically hellish, yet you're constantly on edge to see where the next turn will take you. The Quietus caught up with the duo via email to discuss their upcoming record The Colonial Script, their unwaveringly melancholic sound, and slightly offensive prog rock stereotypes." via The Quietus http://thequietus.com/articles/09630necrodeathmortinterview ERAAS (Live) // USA "ERAAS are Robert Toher and Austen Stawiarz, formerly half of earthy Connecticut postrock outfit Apse. In the years following the dissolution of that original band, Toher and Stawiarz have reconvened as ERAAS. The new alias sees the pair swerving into darker territory, jettisoning the more songbased elements of the Apse repertoire in favour of spooky, rhythmic mood pieces." via FACT Magazine http://www.factmag.com/2012/09/25/eraasblendgothkraurockanddroneontheirdebutlpstreamithere/ SONANCE "LIKE GHOSTS comes in two halves, totalling just under 42 minutes. The record is available on Bandcamp (http://sonance.bandcamp.com/) and is currently drawing around 300 plays per day since being uploaded on 12/11/2012. Each part is an atmospheric heaping of interwoven arrangements, detailed and droned stretches that subside into sludge filled chasms as the bass pushes you through the floor and lifts dust from the walls. The record was written and rehearsed in a confined practice room in which the waves of sound could literally be felt shuddering up through your lungs and out of your mouth". 8pm 12am. Exchange, Bristol. £10 Advance tickets from Exchangebristol.com, See Tickets, Bristol Ticket Shop.