J. Zunz mixtape and interview for Clot Magazine

It reads:

Mixtape 23 sees Mexican artist Lorena Quintanilla crafting a selection of tunes to warm the late November afternoons.

Originally from Guadalajara (México), the artist made a name for herself as one-half of Lorelle Meets The Obsolete, a duo responsible for some of the most sonically adventurous psych experimentalism of recent times with a reputation for exceptional live shows.

Now relocated in the less hectic city of Ensenada in Baja California, Quintanilla has reinvented herself into J. Zunz, a new solo project where she explores similar atmospherics but marking a distance with what she had been doing with the obsolete. J.Zunz is the result of a metamorphic process whereby the minimal is rendered maximal and the personal fused with the political.

The initial vision for the J. Zunz project was for Lorena to strip her approach down to the basics. She remembers reading a biography of John Cage, where the author was referring to the influence of Buddhism and meditation, and modern artists like Sonia Delaunay, Lucio Fontana, Julio Le Parc, Duchamp, futurism… that detonated something inside her and sparked a myriad of ideas.

Earlier in August J. Zunz published her second album, Hibiscus (Rocket Recordings), which takes the name one of the most popular flowers in her native Mexico. The album marks a move on sonically from earlier comfort zones in her work, into minimal electronics, hypnotic repetition and compelling trance states, arriving at a soundworld in which cyclical synth patterns, eerie ambient textures and cathartic vocal exhortations...

Read the rest here: Clot

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Pharaoh Overlord's majestic new album '6' is released today

"Boldly unearthing the missing link between disco and death metal." The Quietus

"Exhilarating." The Wire

"Something unique and vibrant happening here." 8.5/10 The Prog Mind

"An eternally memorable electronic marvel." Backseat Mafia

The wait is finally over, today sees the release of Pharaoh Overlord's incredible album '6'. 

Sadly due to Covid complications the vinyl is 'still' delayed, but we should be receiving copies next week hopefully. The CD's are in stock and will be shipping out on Monday but if you can't wait you can listen to the album in full now via all streaming sites.

Buy the CD or preorder ltd LP here: Bandcamp

'6' by Pharaoh Overlord is a cataclysmic clash with bewitching results. The band’s current duo of Tomi Leppänen and Jussi Lehtisalo first channelled their love of krautrock-damaged monomania into synth-driven motorik soundscapes on 2019’s ‘5’ yet this new exploration is a step way beyond, into a chilly and captivating electronic panorama. Beholden to the melodies and textures of Kraftwerk yet also the cinematic austerity of EBM and the effervescent pulse of classic Italo-disco, it’s further abetted by fierce and corrosive vocals from longtime collaborator and Sumac/Isis/Old Man Gloom seer Aaron Turner, which stand atop these futuristic serenades not unlike the fevered delivery of a dystopian hellfire preacher.

Like a brightly underlit disco dancefloor flashing out a warning of danger, the alchemical force of '6' is equal parts hedonistic rapture and dark revelation.

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The Prog Mind reviews Pharaoh Overlord

They say:

There have been surprisingly few notable electronic releases this year.  I’ve really liked only a handful, so I was eager to jump into the new Pharaoh Overlord album when I saw the promo arrive.  The new album is called “6” and releases on November 27th through Rocket Recordings.

Pharaoh Overlord comes to us from Finland.  The band is officially made up of Tomi Leppänen and Jussi Lehtisalo right now, but longtime friend Aaron Turner provides vocals on this album.  In fact, according to the bio in their promo kit, Aaron was originally only meant to be on a couple tracks, but he loved the sound so much that he wrote lyrics for the entire album and is featured on every track.

The band, for the last couple albums, has been carving their own niche in electronic music.  With a rock vibe and catchy rhythms, the band is more in the vein of Kraftwerk than, say, Tangerine Dream.  Their songs feel like songs, not atmospheric soundscapes.  Yet, the band has their own sound.  That sound is one of bold electronic loops, effervescent melodies floating in a thick soup of fervor, and layers upon layers of grand ideas.  Many times, those ideas are wild contrasts, pitting fleeting beauty up against raw textures.  This is achieved primarily through Aaron’s “corrosive” harsh vox that help define the album as a whole.  In the midst of reeling and grooving rhythms, his bark manages to make my neck hairs stand on end...

Read the rest of the 8.5/10 review here: The Prog Mind 

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Listen to Pharaoh Overlord compiled playlist

Pharaoh Overlord have compiled an eclectic Spotify playlist of 'UK bands' for you to enjoy:

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The Quietus interviews Pharaoh Overlord about majestic new album '6'

It reads:

Pharaoh Overlord’s new album is a bizarre and brilliant thing, a record of pure energy that smashes ugly, guttural vocals (courtesy of frequent collaborator Aaron Turner of Sumac, Isis and Old Man Gloom) with a dollop of Italo-disco shimmer and relentless psych-industrial EBM thumps. It’s the second LP in a row the project’s released with just Tomi Leppänen and Jussi Lehtisalo at their core, and a sonic expansion on last year’s supercharged krautrock opus 5. Where that album saw the two musicians, who also play in constantly-evolving Finnish greats Circle, take their cues from early Kraftwerk (evidenced by its distinctly Ralf Und Florian album cover), 6 takes that gravity and adds a potent dose of sunny American gloss.

“When we realised that together we look like Steve Jobs and Jerry Garcia, we threw in influences from the West Coast, the enthusiasm of the early Apple Computer and the Grateful Dead. Our aim was to make ‘joyful noise’ with the minimum equipment,” Leppänen tells tQ via email. In its over-the-topness, Pharaoh Overlord has always been a project with which they can dive headfirst and unabashed into music’s more exuberant climes, from their early work’s indulgent stoner-rock pomp, to 2011’s hair metal LP Out Of The Darkness for which they added an umlaut to their name. Their first to be released on Rocket, 6 feels special even among this wild discography, one of the finest they’ve ever put out whether with Pharaoh Overlord, Circle, or anything else...

Read the rest here: The Quietus

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efsyn.gr interviews Kooba Tercu

It reads:

What is it like for an artist to release new music and try to create in these suffocating conditions? Kooba Tercu give us their own interpretation.

Rushing from Athens, Crete and London, Kooba Tercu took the difficult step of making not one, but two releases during the era of pandemics and lockdowns. 

In the conversation we had on the occasion of the release of "Proto Tekno", but also of "Proto Tekno (Remixed)" (listen to all their music HERE ) it was fatal that the coronavirus and the effects of the crisis we are experiencing have a dominant position.

But we did not stop there. Kooba Tercu tells us about their demanding but accessible compositions, about the place they want the listener to have in their music world, but also about their own quests through engaging in art.

We meet in a strange situation. So what is the "experience" of releasing an album in lockdown? Were there any thoughts of postponing the traffic? And what is the reception so far from audiences and critics?

The process of releasing an album in the middle of a lockdown is ungrateful and torturous, mainly because you can not support it with concerts and related tours. Now traffic, tours and online promotion are all aspects necessary to be able to have an impact on our work. But the worst part was the lack of playing live and sharing experiences with the listeners...

Read the rest here: efsyn.gr

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Backseat Mafia reviews Pharaoh Overlord's '6'

They say:

THE FINNISH group Pharoah Overlord have made a welcome return with an expanded iteration of their previous era, amplifying the krautrock-influenced soundscapes established in 2019’s 5, joined by Sumac and Old Man Gloom’s Aaron Turner.

Here, Tomi Leppänen and Jussi Lehtisalo’s Kraftwerk-influenced, ravaging electronica melds with Aaron Turner’s harsh vocals for a futuristic attack of monomania-based jams. The vocal grit and cadence are an unexpected but sumptuous placement in these hellish soundscapes, a deeper bash into the panoramic and desolate dystopia of Pharaoh Overlord.

In its jam stylings and ever-present, pounding surge, 6 is coherent and cohesive, each track like an increasingly horrific horror movie scene. But for all its density, melodicism pervades.

Single “Path Eternal” shows off the band’s individual wielding of Kraftwerk-style murmurations. Melodic bleeps and synth arcs an ecstatic contrast to the guttural vocals; an overwhelming presence while still used unpredictably. Said vocals are, in fact, the most welcome addition to 6.

A longtime collaborator of the band, Turner’s melodic yet visceral vocal/lyrical style was originally intended for just a few tracks, but Tomi and Jussi were so awed that he ended up writing lyrics for the entire album...

Read the rest here: Backseat Mafia

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The Quietus reviews Pharaoh Overlords '6'

They say:

A fixture of the Finnish rock underground, Pharaoh Overlord have long made music of great interest and depth that warrants being taken seriously, while presenting it to the world in a way that risks discouraging just that (for some, at least). The lineup of Pharaoh Overlord has rarely been fixed since they began about two decades ago, but it’s tied pretty closely to that of Circle, who by virtue of existing first – and having a larger (indeed vast) discography – are generally considered the ‘main’ band to Pharaoh Overlord’s ‘side project’. Not how they’d prefer to see it, I’d wager.

Both groups have run the gamut of styles from Krautrock to heavy metal, jazz to prog, crisscrossing in an often camp and injokey way. And while sometimes using reference points from the recognised musical mainstream, they have rarely – if ever – sounded like it. This latest Pharaoh Overlord album probably comes closer to doing that than any other. Its five songs are mostly (perhaps entirely) guitar-free – sequenced rhythms and gleaming keyboard melodies cribbing from cosmic disco, Italo, synthpop and the more proto-techno sorts of the 1970s German set, then topped off by extreme metal vocals which will likely prove divisive even to those familiar with the source...

Read the rest here: The Quietus

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NEOLYD reviews Paisiel's 'Unconscious Death Wishes'

They say:

It is said that almost every dream is a picture puzzle, with the central question "Where is death?" This is not only an interesting topic in psychoanalysis, but probably also a guiding principle set to music by Paisiel , who created a 39-minute experimental composition with "Unconscious Death Wishes".

The Porto-based Duo Paisiel, founded in 2014, consists of the Portuguese drummer João Pais Filip and the German saxophonist Julius Gabriel. Two full-time and above all thoroughbred musicians from different genres and disciplines. Her new work hits stores on November 20th and promises a non-stop wandering through paralyzing worlds. "Unconscious Death Wishes" is her way of evoking "landscapes, shapes, colors, proportions and movements" in Julius' words.

It's amazing how quickly a subconscious can get caught in the web of Paisiel's latest record. Subtle and gentle falling into a trance-like undertow, still wandering after other thoughts and yet paralyzed by the delicate, refined intoxication. And with the blink of an eye you realize that you are already in the middle of Paisiel's created acoustic exile...

Read the rest here: NEOLYD

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Now Idzie Od Morza reviews Deafbrick

They say:

Last year Igor Cavalera, founder of the legendary Sepultura, debuted with his new project Petbrick. Now, though, he crossed paths with one of the best bands from the country, Deafkids, about whose amazing album MetaprogramaçãoI wrote in 2019. Petbrick combines industrial sounds with synthesiser walls of sound, and Deafkids explore the boundaries between punk and avant-garde. A combination of these elements yields a mighty set of compositions built based on mighty-sounding guitar walls, indigenous percussion instruments, and artificial parts of synthesisers and beats. The sonic landscape is buzzing with guitar noise that keeps accumulating. Take the two-minute “Força Bruta”, where minced guitars follow Cavalera’s beats at breakneck speed. Deafkids are a great match here with their post-hardcore aesthetics. “The Menace of the Dark Polar Night” offers a calmer, powerful counterpoint, where futurist electronics, deformed in the second part of the track, come to the fore. “Máquina Obsessivo-Compulsiva” and “O Antropoceno” focus on the drums, there’s also room for a hypertextual reference to the traditions of the genre, when the quintet reinterprets Discharge’s “Free Speech For The Dumb”. And this is all locked in the trance hurricane in the form of two incarnations of “Primeval”. A very intense, yet captivating album.

Read the rest here: Now Idzie Od Morza

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