Music without Lables XXXV
Pure adrenaline with The Birthday Party
Abolitionist punk by 1865
Larsen C & The Millennials´ afrobeat jazz
Heavy metal XI: Other types of “hard”
Parallel to heavy metal, there is another school of guitarists who generated a “hard” sound. They are not based on virtuosity but in the adrenaline rushes that they cause. They are the heirs of fighters like Jimi Hendrix.
Many of them are related to the singer Nick Cave who surrounded himself with atmospheric guitarists such as the Australian Rowland S. Howard, and raw guitarists like the German Remo Park and Martin Peter of the band Die Haut.
The Birthday Party - Release the Bats (1981)
This is a song composed by Nick Cave and Mick Harvey that was released as a single by this post punk band. Rowland S.’ guitar cries bluesy phrasings fraught with pain.
The Australian Nick Cave has transitioned to the wildest part of rock. Firstly, with The Boys Next Door, and then with the influential The Birthday Party. It was there where he met Rowland S. Howard, who also excelled in the British bands Crime and the City Solution and These Immortal Souls. Cave also gave relevance to Berlin’s Blixa Bargeld, former leader of the band Einstürzende Neubauten, representatives of industrial rock and of blast furnace sound. Bargeld would accompany Cave in his band The Bad Seeds.
International: The 1865
The 1865 are an innovative nouveau punk music collective based in New York. Their music, strong and imposing, are reminiscent of the dark past of the United States and how its harmful effects continue to be felt today.
The compositions capture the spirit of Jimi Hendrix and the irreverence of X-Ray Spex. Discordant machine guns and guitars, deep swamp basses and revolutionary drums taken straight out of farm tools.
The 1865 - John Brown's Gat (2019)
This is a song written by the whole band and it was released as a preview single for their album Don’t Tread On We! It uses raw punk rock voices and guitars to express a direct and powerful message.
The collective 1865 formed in 2017, from an idea of the renowned musician and filmmaker Sacha Jenkins (solo guitar), who recruited Carolyn “Honeychild” Coleman (main singer and baritone guitar) and Chuck Treece (drums). In their live performances, the band has the support of the Afro-Brazilian bassist Flora Lucini, from the band Maafa, and drummer Jason “Biz” Lucas, from Dragonz of Zynth. They are named after the year the American Civil War ended and slavery was abolished. Though the fight for equality had really just begun.
National: Larsen C & The Millennials
Larsen C is an Andalusian funk, afrobeat and jazz quintet. They are made up by musicians with a solid background that in their parallel careers have showed great creativity in the most experimental scene.
They create instrumental tracks that are oriented towards dance and influenced by the work of visionary masters such as the American Sun Ra and the Ethiopian Mulatu, and by current bands such as the British Sons of Kemet.
Larsen C & The Millennials - Carmona Witch Nemesis (2018)
This is a track that’s credited to Domínguez, Baena, Rojas and Díaz that was released in their album S/T. The album cover was designed and illustrated by the imaginative graphic designer Gonzalo Santana.
Larsen C & The Millennials is formed by Gustavo Domínguez (clarinet), Dani Cano (trumpet), Rubén Baena (guitar), Pedro Rojas (bass) and Borja Díaz (drums). All of them coming from bands such as Orthodox, Hidden Forces Trio, Proyecto Ocnos, De Morao Swing Tablao and Daniel Cano Quintet. Their presentation record S/T contains nine tracks with an impressive rhythmic section that gives support to the wind instruments. This work was released by Sentencia Records, an independent label that is committed to research.