Skip to main content

Iceage

 139

Iceage

How Iceage became The Lord's Favourite » Subbacultcha

Iceage

I first became aware of this Danish punk band with their sophomore release, 2013's You're Nothing. I've been following their path unfold since then. I'll be straight-up: this music is not for everyone; It's chaotic, sludgy, messy, yet, somehow, still beautiful. The beauty comes in the honesty which comes with being in a punk band. It's not for glamour, it's not for the image, it's not for fashion, it's not for popularity- it's for that singular punk attitude & that punk attitude alone- and if that doesn't make sense to you- then you will definitely hate this band. But alas, all punk bands must grow from their teenage angst and finally spread their wings and find their footing as they age. Frontman Elias Bender Rønnenfelt expressed this growth best when he told Pitchfork, "...ideally, Iceage should not only cover the emotions that come with a clenched fist, but everything that comes with living our lives."  Their ambitious third album, 2014's Plowing in the Field of Love, proved just that: Punk-rock can be more than just three-chords and a singer screaming about society's woes. I can't name many punk bands that have aged as gracefully or grown as artistically; going from thrashy chaos (see the band's 2011 debut album: New Brigade) to grand, apocalyptic rock music (see the band's fourth album: 2018's Beyondless). The band recently released a new single, 2021's "The Holding Hand," the first taste of anything off their fifth album set for release in May of this year. Again, this isn't music for everyone but if your inner pissed-off adolescent self is anywhere alive in your soul: you will dig this sound. This is a band that can summon a storm like no other... maybe Fucked Up. Now, I'll leave this post with a quote from the guitarist, Johan Surrballe Wieth which proves what this band is about: "We aren’t a DIY band – we don’t put out our own records, and don’t set up our own shows. Still, everything we make as a band, we want to do ourselves. We want to stay in control of every creative outlet." Check out this new and thorough interview the band did with Pitchfork. People can take PUNK for granted, but ICEAGE certainly doesn't. Look at their book and take a page...

It's...

Iceage 

 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Band

19 The Band The Band First known as the Hawks, the Band got their initial fame as Bob Dylan’s backing band. Remember when Bob Dylan sold out and went electric, angering fans so much that they called him “ Judas ”? Well, you can thank all of that to the Band. For a band that sounds so fucking American (seriously- no band has done the whole Americana roots music better than the Band) it’s pretty funny most of them were Canadian. After finally branching out on their own in 1968, the Band would release some of the best music ever recorded… and if you thought the Beatles had a hell of a run- check out the Band’s discography: 1968’s Music From Big Pink , 1969’s self-titled The Band , 1970’s Stage Fright , 1971’s Cahoots , 1972’s live-album Rock of Ages , 1973’s Moondog Matinee , 1975’s Northern Lights -Southern Cross , and 1977’s Islands. Lynard Skynard may have taken the crown for greatest southern rock band, but for a band full of Canadians and Americans, the Band really embraces a...

Crystal Castles

61 Crystal Castles Crystal Castles If you ever wondered what it would sound like if the video-game character Mario was catapulted through a plate-glass window- you'd get close to describing Crystal Castles. Cut up vocals and soothing waves of synth, live shows known for "fan riots, crowd surges, and metal barriers destroyed" Toronto electronic-punk-bleep-pop duo Crystal Castles is music that could only be made in the post-modern / post-millennium era, with a fan base that remembers the 8-bit era. Some dance music is meant to be played in the dark, but few dance bands bring their own darkness. This is dance music for sociopaths. Crystal Castles is the brain-child of Ethan Kath. The band began as a Kath solo project in 2003, but the producer recruited a 15-year-old Alice Glass to add vocals. Glass recorded rough soundcheck vocals for five tracks, which were secretly recorded by an en engineer, and Kath uploaded the material un der the name Crystal Castles. After rele...

FKA twigs

99 FKA twigs FKA twigs FKA twigs is the brain-child of Tahliah Barnett. Under her stage-name of FKA twigs (which I'll just refer to her as twigs from here-on-out) she has released three EP’s (2012’s EP1 , 2013’s EP2 , and 2015’s incredible M3LL155X EP )  and two albums (2014’s LP1 & 2019’s Magdalene ). With someone with such a small catalogue, it's amazing how dense and rich this music is. Before Billie Eilish made the whole whisper-singer mainstream last year, twigs was already releasing down-tempo-trip-hop-whisper-sung music back in 2012. That is when she released her debut, EP1 . twigs hqd been studying dance since the age of six, but deep down, she knew she always wanted to be a recording artist so she eventually left the dancing behind (in a way [dance has always been a big part of her project]) to focus on her music project. However, limiting to just a music project is doing it an injustice in labeling. It’s more of a visual-dancing-art project. Ever ev...