ABSOLUTE DESPAIR

The Brvtalist is pleased to premiere a new collaborative track from Dixon and Akers. Melbourne's Heavy Machinery Records presents the immaculate new LP from renowned Australian electronic music producers Elisabeth Dixon and Alexander Akers (aka Forces). Layering meditative drones beneath dark mechanical rhythms, their new release 'Slime Resolution' is a wild new sonic territory, in which they explore hypnotic, trance-inducing dance floor experience and the aggressive frenzy of industrial techno.

Out November 19th on Bandcamp: https://heavymachineryrecords.bandcamp.com/album/slime-resolution

@heavymachineryrecords

PREMIERE: Dixon/Akers - Clot Conjugation  [Heavy Machinery Records]

Don't Call Her

Melbourne singer Cassandra Kiely (Pearls, Ladydreams) has teamed up with producer B. C. Slumber and cellist/composer Prudence Rees-Lee (Popular Music) to re-imagine the wonderful ‘Come to Me’ from Björk’s 1993 album, Debut. It was recorded to honour the life of Aaron McDonald, who passed away in 2024. Aaron and Cassandra were close friends who spent many a late night or early morning discussing the finer points of the Cocteau Twins, Guru Josh, and above all, Björk. As such a singular and untouchable artist, any attempt to cover her work is an ambitious move, but Aaron’s love for Björk could not be forgotten or ignored. This project insisted itself into being and we are glad to have this luminous and beautiful rendition. 

Very much a collaborative work, Cassandra and B. C. Slumber have crafted a dramatic reinterpretation, vast and haunting. The stability of the backbeat is stripped away, leaving only faint pulses and undulations of electronic signal to guide the way. Prudence Rees-Lee contributes spectral backing vocals and cello. Aaron’s voice can be heard within the track through an incidental recording taken during a kick-on, feeling as though he’s being overheard conversing in the next room: near, but not close enough. There is a palpable danger in the air, an uneasiness around the edges of perception. Cassandra promises a spiritual protection which cannot be tempered by distance or time. As her verses finish, the electronic ensemble rears up climatically and begins to move. The backbeat returns to dispel the stasis, momentum builds, and soul and memory are given safe passage.

PREVIEW - OFFICIAL RELEASE DATE FEB 21st 2025

Cassandra Kiely - Come To Me (single)

Melbourne singer Cassandra Kiely (Pearls, Ladydreams) has teamed up with producer B. C. Slumber and cellist/composer Prudence Rees-Lee (Popular Music) to re-imagine the wonderful ‘Come to Me’ from Björk’s 1993 album, Debut. It was recorded to honour the life of Aaron McDonald, who passed away in 2024. Aaron and Cassandra were close friends who spent many a late night or early morning discussing the finer points of the Cocteau Twins, Guru Josh, and above all, Björk. As such a singular and untouchable artist, any attempt to cover her work is an ambitious move, but Aaron’s love for Björk could not be forgotten or ignored. This project insisted itself into being and we are glad to have this luminous and beautiful rendition.

Very much a collaborative work, Cassandra and B. C. Slumber have crafted a dramatic reinterpretation, vast and haunting. The stability of the backbeat is stripped away, leaving only faint pulses and undulations of electronic signal to guide the way. Prudence Rees-Lee contributes spectral backing vocals and cello. Aaron’s voice can be heard within the track through an incidental recording taken during a kick-on, feeling as though he’s being overheard conversing in the next room: near, but not close enough. There is a palpable danger in the air, an uneasiness around the edges of perception. Cassandra promises a spiritual protection which cannot be tempered by distance or time. As her verses finish, the electronic ensemble rears up climatically and begins to move. The backbeat returns to dispel the stasis, momentum builds, and soul and memory are given safe passage. 
credits

released February 21, 2025

Vocals - Cassandra Kiely
Backing vocals and cello - Prudence Rees-Lee
Produced, mixed, re-mixed and mastered by Your Gay Uncle, B. C. Slumber
Cover by Brett Bevege

Originally recorded by Björk
In Loving Memory of Aaron McDonald - 16.1.2024

Come To Me

Written by Zayd Thring
Recorded by Alex Macfarlane, Zayd Thring and Ladydreams
Mixed by Alex Macfarlane and Zayd Thring
Mastered by Alan Smithee


Make It Up

Memory Can't Help

A phenomenological interpretation of the Second Delphic Hymn to Apollo, one of the first pieces of notated music. 

Guitar based on the ancient Greek modes, by Lee Parker.

Second Delphic Hymn to Apollo

⋆✦ ✩ Interstitial DJ set at Golden Plains Festival 2020 ✩ ✦⋆

Julee Cruise - Rockin' Back Inside My Heart (12” Single Tibetan Dub Mix)
Judy Nylon + Crucial – Jailhouse Rock  (Elvis Cover)
Anna Domino – In The Land Of My Dreams (Aretha Franklin Cover)
Elisa Waut – Russia (7” Version)
Lost Animal – Lose The Baby 
Chrome feat. Damon Edge – If You Come Around 
The Stone Roses – I Wanna Be Adored (7” Single)
The Flamin’ Groovies – Shake Some Action 
Ricky Wilde – I Wanna Go To The Disco (7” Single)
Slade – Cum On Feel The Noize (7” Single) 
The Sweet – Teenage Rampage (A1 Collector Series Version)
Alice Cooper – Billion Dollar Babies 
Gang of Four – I Love A Man In Uniform (12” Single)
Visage – Fade To Grey (12” Single)
Pet Shop Boys – West End Girls (7” Single)
KLF – Justified and Ancient (Tammy Mix 12” Version)
Bronski Beat – Smalltown Boy (7” Single)
Decadance – On and On (Fears Keep On) (12” Version)
Gina X Performance – No G.D.M (Dedicated to Quentin Crisp) (Original Full Length 12” Single)
NIN – Closer 
Depeche Mode – Personal Jesus (12” Single)
Saâda Bonaire – Princess Of The Streets (Stranglers Cover Limited Edition 12” EP)
Q Lazzarus – Goodbye Horses (12” Single)
Dominatrix – The Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight (Original Dominant Mix 12” Version)
Chris + Cosey feat. Eurythmics – Sweet Surprise (A1 12” Version)

⋆✦ ✩ Sets in between Bill Callahan, Stereolab, Sleaford Mods + Electric Fields ✩ ✦⋆

DJ Cassandra Kiely at Golden Plains 2020

TOL - State March

Taken from their upcoming full length 'Last Grief' on AR53. 

Amidst the cataclysm of the world as we know it, TOL’s Last Grief couldn’t be more pertinent. Formed in 2014 as a trio comprising Sean Bailey (vocals, drums), Justin Fuller (guitar) and Lee Parker (bass), this line-up debuted on the Survive/War Dream 7” (2016, No Patience Records). In 2017, Tom Rowley joined on drums. Last Grief is the band's long-awaited first album. 

Songs such as Touch the Mortar and Grey Pillar reference the cold materiality of ruination, while Gripping the Chain and Survive demand a dogged endurance within an eroding landscape. Akin to post-punk outfits 1919, Rudimentary Peni and Killing Joke, TOL speaks to the critical need to interrogate the prevalent. 

Sonically, the album is a level above the 7” single, recorded again by Jack Farley (Power, Zond) and mixed by Mikey Young (Total Control). Bailey’s vocals sound cavernous over the depths of layered guitars, the drumming is thunderous and unrelenting, but balance is found at the extremity. The band is a unified and overwhelming force. Last Grief is a soundscape of fury, a primordial weapon of defiance.

Purchase

TOL - State March

Taken from Sow Discord - Quiet Earth (AR53-07)

More info: https://sowdiscord.bandcamp.com/album/quiet-earth

Quiet Earth is the first full length offering from David Coen, AKA Sow Discord.

Proceeds from digital sales to be donated to Pay The Rent. More info available: paytherent.net.au
credits
released July 15, 2020

Recorded, produced and mixed by Sow Discord


Additional drums, guitars and vocals on An Eroded Fortune by Chip King and Lee Buford (The Body)
Additional Electronics and vocals on Watching From The Centre by Ethan Lee McCarthy (Many Blessings, Primitive Man)
All guitars and additional electronics by Benjamin Wayne Andrews (My Disco, Agents of Abhorrence)

Sow Discord - Everything Has Been Exhausted

♥ Solo experimental project of Cassandra Kiely. Deconstructed pop songs, minimal electronics and ambient soundscapes using voice, Prophet 08, Roland SH-1000, RS09, TR 808, guitar. 



Radio & DJ mixes on my mixcloud. x