CRAVE - Death Blow

I swear this guy doesn't sleep, another incredible mini-album from CRAVE just dropped today. Six tracks of genre-bending and genre-blending sinister beats, that offer excursion into John's ever-evolving musical taste and creative mind. From cinematic synth through noise-trap and industrial to dark ambient and drone, CRAVE shapeshifts from one track to another, while skillfully maintaining cohesiveness and keeping the listener immersed in this hellish sonic world. I feel like I barely savoured his previous album from last month, but I'm not complaining here, "Death Blow" does not disappoint. Play it loud.

As always, this project dropped on Paso Inferior Tapes, there's no word whether it will see a physical release, but I'll keep you in the loop. You can cop the digital copy here, and stream it in full below. Also, if you liked "Paradise Hotel", there are now some tapes to buy, super limited and going fast. Head over here to get one.

CRAVE - Half Life

Unannounced drop from CRAVE, on the heels of his incredible album "Death Blow" a few months back. The first half of "Half Life" is defined by hellish, semi-shouted verses laid over decaying beats that channel underground southern tapes' circuit from the 90s, only to be followed by cinematic synth transmissions on "Skullduggery". The second half of the EP continues with possessed vocals, this time backed with analog soundscapes on "Party Drugs Leeches" and minimal bass grooves on "Waffles". The whole thing feels like taking a tar-filled bath with a double barrel shotgun aimed at your face. Dark and radical.

"Half Life" came out today and is available for purchase from CRAVE's bandcamp. Stream it below.

CRAVE - Inner War Delirium

CRAVE unleashes his latest sonic assault "Inner War Delirium", released on vinyl in collaboration with the Greek label Heat Crimes. Lo-fi grandeur of black metal, uncompromising rap delivery, gritty noise soundscapes and industrial techniques clash, grind and ultimately merge into a hardcore cocktail that will slit your membranes when left off guard. Jon has always been an excellent sensory storyteller, both as an untamed music producer and bold visual artist, with a library of music knowledge at his disposal and a hand full of sandpaper ready to scrape boundaries of any genre. "Inner War Delirium" fells like his magnum opus, a culmination of decades-worth exploration of the obscure and the macabre, molded into a record that represents CRAVE's versatility, creativity and DIY spirit. The album is a win on all fronts, a classic that will only get better as time passes.

Buy the LP here, and stream in full below.

CRAVE - Stabbed In The Jaw And Left Alive

CRAVE is back with a new album on freshly minted Paso Inferior Tapes. His work has always been very cinematic, both in terms of visual references, storytelling and sample use, and it's no different here - the mood shifts throughout "Stabbed In The Jaw And Left Alive" keeping the listener on the edge all the time. It is an industrial record at its core, with experimental rap, harsh noise and power electronics influences ingeniously intertwined into an eerie and gripping project. The titular track even ventures into a hardcore/grimy rave territory, while "Betrayal" sounds like it could be pulled from a Texas Chain Saw Massacre-themed dungeon synth album. The result is seven tracks of uncompromising gritty electronics, an essential listen for anyone willing to hear the best in the current French underground.

Buy the album here, and stream it below. Also, make sure to follow CRAVE's obscure bootleg brand Paso Inferior on Instagram.

Mutant Zones // best albums of 2022

Late again, but here are my fav albums from the past year. Just like a year before, I'm publishing my list as part of a website designed in collaboration with Witch-House.com, where I invited a lot of incredible artists from the darker corners of the underground to share their personal 'best of's. Check it out here. My picks are below.

CRAVE - NV777

CRAVE is a post-witchhouse, post-noise, post-industrial alias of French musician Jonathan Zion Katsav, known for his grunge project ÐOSE (released during the short period of time in 2010 when Disaro label's myspace popularity was at at its all-time high) and minimal techno output Lieu Noir. Since 2011, CRAVE has released a number of albums and EPs, all catalogued on his Discogs page. This tape (alongside other gem from Lieu Noir - more about that another time) was released in 2016 during his French tour in an undisclosed amount of copies. The music on the cassette is a 26 minutes mix of signature CRAVE weirdo rap, horror electronica and crusty punk noise set against the imaginary backdrop of Las Vegas landscapes: obscure casinos, dry deserts, endless skies and forgotten mafia graveyards.

DL: NV777

CRAVE / Sniper Bait - Split

This one has been teased for a while, two personalities from John on one split single. Love the Sniper Bait's noise explorations that are paired with some lost radio recordings. CRAVE's "Sulfur Smuggler" is a dope, dreampunk-inspired (consciously or not) beat that goes surprisingly well with Sniper's track. Win once again, this guy cannot miss. Grab it here.

CRAVE - Paradise Hotel

Surprise new album from CRAVE on Paso Inferior Tapes. Six tracks of otherworldly drones, static hiss and harsh trap underpinned by desolate bass structures and visceral synths. Narrated by heavily processed vocals, John managed to create here an unauthorised soundtrack to the grittiest and most dangerous alleyways of the dystopian Los Angeles from Blade Runner. Think of The Body's "I Shall Die Here" collab with Haxan Cloak but filtered through Vangelis retro-futurist atmospheres. Sci-fi snuff album for all the sewage mutants, techno punks and replicant outcasts. Incredible.

Buy "Paradise Hotel" here, and stream in full below.

CRAVE - Yard EP

CRAVE posted a new two-track EP on his bandcamp a couple of days ago, follow up to his All Dogs projects from last year. The titular track is an essential listen for fans of gritty, unsettling storytelling backed with distroted beats drowned in layers of noise, while "Celebrity Morgue" is balancing between static-filled ambience and celestial sound design, a contemporary electronic composition that could easily be used in a cinematic sci-fi odyssey. Head over here to buy it and stream below.

CRAVE - PIT Podcast N°4

An hour of mindfuckery, noise and industrial experimentation from CRAVE for Paso Inferior Tapes podcast. This shit would be a book-definition of evil in the satanic-panic days. I recently spoke to CRAVE and he shared some exciting news - there's a vinyl record in the pipeline called "Inner War Delirium", which is scheduled for the second half of the year. Before that we should also get 2 new EPs and a side-project called Sniper Bait. Good times ahead.

CRAVE - nevada_jerky_gurl23 : Chapter 2 'Silver_Web.gen'

Several days ago I blogged about CRAVE's latest single "Gutq", turns out it was one of the tracks that appears on his new CDR "nevada_jerky_gurl23 : Chapter 2". If you're wondering about chapter one, it was a 1 hour long improvised live recording that he published on his Soundcloud in July 2021. This new CD is an exclusive release for today's pop-up shop in Paris. More details here.

CRAVE - Meathook

CRAVE's latest EP "Meathook" is a sonic continuation of his "Save Room" concept album, where the focus is on buliding atmosphere with beatless tones and noises rather than overload your senses with grimey beats and synths. Harsh ambient and noir-industrial soundscapes for escape rooms and D&D dungeons. Stream here and pre-order the CD by directly DMing him on Instagram here. Super dope.

CRAVE - Black Powder Recipe

"Black Powder Recipe" feels like a natural continuation of CRAVE's "Save Room" album, a horror/survival computer game soundtrack rooted in ominous ambient soundscapes. Great stuff as always. Support here.

CRAVE - Reservoir 01

John unleashes four five ("Crash" is hidden) new tracks of gruesome synths, power electronics and undertaker beats on his latest EP "Reservoir 01". Straight up heat, no fillers. Loving the choral vibe of "Ahead" and "Chlorine Poisoning" contrasted agains the noisy mayhem on "Shifter of Sand". Support!

Buy the digital here, and stream below.

CRAVE - Jigsaw

CRAVE is back with "Jigsaw", an eight minutes long haunting piece that sits somewhere between droning loops, dragged spoken word and ambient soundscapes, all of which give the composition an eerie feeling of uneasy peacefulness. In the words of Dale Cooper "I have no idea where this will lead us, but I have a definite feeling it will be a place both wonderful and strange".You can purchase this stand-alone single here.

CRAVE - From Sedatives To Trust

Last rites of 2022 from CRAVE, new EP "From Sedatives to Trust" dropped out of nowhere on Bandcamp a couple of days ago. Noise/doom metal mashup, fans of The Body's "I Shall Die Here" will feel like home. Buy here.

Mutant Zones // best albums of 2021

It's been a hell of a year, but filled with some amazing, boundary-pushing and forward-thinking music that will stay with me for years to come. This year I'm publishing my list as part of website in collaboration with Witch-House.com, where I invited some amazing artists to share their personal 'best of's. You can check the whole website here. Without further ado, here are my top 20 favourite albums from 2021:

 

1. Louisahhh - The Practice Of Freedom

Drawing equally from EBM and industrial influences, the record consists of 11 tracks filled with dark and disruptive techno delivered with punk attitude. It may appear agressive and heavy at first, but behind that initial impression lies a deeply personal, emotional, and skillfully structured album that deals with love, loss and power in a brutally honest and refreshing manner. Mesmerising LP.

 

2. Edith Underground - Heaven's Night

For a long while now, Edith's music has been drifting away from her early, obscure witchy bedroom roots I first fell in love with on the "Teen Witch" tape back in 2017, towards dark and gloomy dancefloor bangers, channelling club & rave music from the 90s. From trance, through jungle and breakbeat, to techno and classic house (with a bold JB sample there, love it, Nike7up fans pay attention), "Heaven's Night" is like doing drugs, going to a nightclub you've never been to before and having the time of your life.

 

3. Gravegonzo - Their Fantasy Mirrors

"Their Fantasy Mirrors" is a sublime and captivating sonic journey illustrated by enchanted narratives penned by the leader Sam Beahan. By ingeniously blending dark synth-pop, ethereal wave and pop-oriented harmonies, Gravegonzo manage to carve a unique niche for themselves, filled with hazy, sensuous melodies and shoegazy atmospheres. What's also worth noting is that "Their Fantasy Mirrors" is brilliantly sequenced, helping the listener to blissfully sink into these nine tracks from the very first moments of the opener "Lurk Around". My favourite debut of 2021.

 

4. Male Tears - Trauma Club

Glorious ode to the darkwave/new wave sound. Male Tears released not one, but two albums in 2021, but I feel like "Trauma Club", which is notably darker and spookier from its self-titled predecessor (both in terms of the music production and lyrics) makes a bigger impact. By conjuring the 80s goth aesthetic, often flavoured with EBM influences, they crafted seven catchy synth-pop/darkwave songs that will keep you vibing until the next Halloween.

 

5. CRAVE - Stabbed In The Jaw And Left Alive

CRAVE's work has always been very cinematic, both in terms of visual references, storytelling and sample use, and it's no different here - the mood shifts throughout "Stabbed In The Jaw And Left Alive" keeping the listener on the edge all the time. It is an industrial record at its core, with experimental rap, harsh noise and power electronics influences ingeniously intertwined into an eerie and gripping project.

 

6. Holy Other - Lieve

The elusive producer delivers his signature sound of mesmerizing downtempo electronica, this time more deconstructed, polished and darker than ever before, often drifting towards a sonic territory located somewhere between Haxan Cloak's Latitudes record and "Double Negative" from Low. Recorded during 2020, the album effortlessly blends dark ambient with fractured electronic signals and cold IDM undertones, creating multi-layered compositions that are occasionally graced with ethereal vocals from Sian O'Gorman. It's a stunning comeback from one of the most iconic faces of the Tri Angle label.

 

7. Home Front - Think Of The Lie

New and exciting post-punk/new wave band from Edmonton, Canada. These dudes manage to sound like they've been teleported from the 80s and at the same time channel raw energy that's so much needed in this pandemic-centric world. The opening track "Flaw In The Design" gives me serious The Cure vibes, and made me fall in love with them straight from there. Whole thing is packed with hits that are insanely addictive and make you believe you've known them for years. Fantastic debut.

 

8. Pictureplane - Dopamine

Latest album from Pictureplane is quite possibly his best one yet, with its sound and influences going back all the way to his classic Dark Rift days. "Dopamine" has rave songs for Hackers' psychofans, hip-hop-flavoured industrial for babybats and outcasts, and mellow synth tracks for D&D nerds. And all that while being true to his DIY-ethos. Love it.

 

9. Low - Hey What

While "Double Negative" redefined their career, "Hey What" cements their status as one of the most exciting rock bands out there today. Amazing LP from start to finish.

 

10. Zhe Pechorin - Signs

"Signs" is a six track journey through otherworldly portals, gliding smoothly alongside sci-fi tones & droned out minimalism. Organically shifting and progressing through the noisy cosmic vortex, the album is a blisssful slow-paced trip that brings to mind the opening sequence in Blade Runner.

 

11. Smote - Drommon

Psychedelic, almost ritual odyssey with folk undertones, that instantly made me think of early Haxan Cloak vs Hawkwind combo.

 

12. Mater Suspiria Vision - Kosmische Musik

"Kosmische Musik" takes the listener on a trippy journey through vast and bleak sonic wastelands of ghostly synths, selectively scattered with guest vocals and shrouded with droning serenity.

 

13. Scythe - Candlelit Descent Down The Initiation Well

Filled with emotive synths that shape vast and brooding soundscapes, the album is a sublime and haunting experience that will undoubtedly appeal to both melancholic crypt keepers as well as dystopian dreampunks.

 

14. V.A. - Curses presents: Next Wave Acid Punx

Spanning four decades of music, it's an epic collection of dark electronic dancefloor hits, including tracks from Suicide, Yello, Front 242 as well as modern faces of dark disco scene like Curses himself, Shubostar or Zombies in Miami. Whether you like darkwave, italo-disco, EBM or new beat, you'll find something special for yourself.

 

15. MONOMORTE - The Wiccan

On "The Wiccan" MONOMORTE manages to craft a cohesive occult story, told with an eclectic sound that is both sublime and menacing, eerily familiar and comfortably distant, merging modern horror sound design with ghosts of dubstep past.

 

16. Tonstartssbandht - Petunia

"Petunia" is a joyous, folk-flavoured ride that progresses Tonstartssbandht's signature noisy sound into a more polished, melodic and well structured songwriting.

 

17. New Mexican Stargazers - Subterranean Flash Game

NMS combines psycho-tropical soundscapes and new age synths, emanating some serious hypnagogic vibes that will you make you float for hours.

 

18. MORGVE - Halveksiva

Latecomers to my list (the album came out just 2 days before the end of 2021), but it took me by storm, a melodic and post-rave friendly LP from Argentina's finest witchhouse musicians.

 

19. S280F - 28

"28" sounds like it was sent to Earth from the Nostromo spaceship after orbiting our solar system in solitude for years. It's an organic sound design sculpture mixed with a score to a movie that never was.

 

20. PC World - Order

A synth/EBM soundtrack to the post-truth world of today, accentuated with industrial and post-punk elements.

 

Special shout out aka looking forward to hear their albums in 2022:

Cotton Crown - Wretched Lie

Stay Healthy - Sickem

Churchterror - Dirt

Click here to view the WITCH-HOUSE.com x MUTANT ZONES best of 2021 website.

CRAVE - Trust Me (Raw Version)

CRAVE is back on his replicant noise shit, "Trust Me" is a cut from his new CD that will be available during his forthcoming gig at TONY in Paris. More info here.

CRAVE - Backdraft // video

First single (and video visualizer) for CRAVE's upcoming album "Inner War Delirium". It will come out on vinyl via Heat Crimes and can be now preordered here. Cannot wait!

Crave - Recoil

Came across this well-hidden EP from CRAVE that apparently is available only on Japanese Amazon store. You can stream it on SC though. Wild. Lockpicking music, as per cover art, anxious beats and evil soundscapes.

Edit. As of today (June 12), "Recoil" is now on Bandcamp.