WL//WH LP Premiere MECHANIMAL “Thorivos”
MCHNML photo by Gerasimos Domenikos
Today we premiere the new fifth album “Θορυβος” (Thorivos – NOISE) by the Athens based ongoing experimental music project of Mechanimal, via Inner Ear Records. MCHNML is the brainchild of electronic producer and new-industrialist Giannis Papaioannou (ION), who with an impressive move sent the whole project to some unimaginably high standards of the urban culture. Following last year’s electro-industrial storms of “Crux” LP, where he manipulated Freddy Faulkenberry‘s vocals as a storm unleashed, this year he found the best narrator in the face of another iconic figure of the Athenian underground, Thekla Tselepi at the front.
Renowned radio producer, an artist, and an activist, she gave her volcanic cold blow on the words she had in her hands; the words that are written by MCHNML member Angelica Vrettou (creator of their album covers and curator of the videos of their live performances) in the Greek language and fortunately for everyone all translated into English. You see, the ink that Angelica put on the paper is urban bloody poetry in all its sparkling glory; explicit, rude, nasty, annoying, true, feminine, sour-sweet, she became something like an analyst of the global psyche….“Like a whore’s hole-ridden dress/ Floating on the dull waters of the shipyard.” What is more menacing, the cold post-punk of ION with his machines, Angelica behind the poetry, or Thekla pushing these words to the microphone?
There is melancholy all over the album and in all its aspects. Music, Words, Voice, Production, all gather up to form the new chapter of MCHNML‘s script which appears to be more subversive and fearless than ever. You will hear all the shades of old-school stuff, new wave music, post-punk to the bone, darkwave, and dark electro minimalism to tangle like snakes around the dirty words of the new manifesto. Spoken word by the singer to make it all more conceivable and striking for the hearts of the ‘innocent’ sheep of the societies.
Art can be brutally galore in the hands of ingenious artists who sing the dirty deeds and some ugly truth, try track no. 5 “Madness”. Art can be deadly ironic and offensive at the root of the human entity, art can be explicit toward the norms, and very-very toxic, try track no. 6 “How Marvellous You Are When You Dance”. Art can be a nihilist, art can be anarchy, art can be minimal, sharp, and clear, go to track no.3 “Go Ahead!”. Go to the venomous opener of the album, “Red The Poetry Flows”, and hear if you see anything yours in there shamelessly and guiltily. Anyway, shuffle the list well and let it reveal to you the whole sonic spectrum of MCHNML. Θορυβος” (Thorivos – NOISE) LP is all the glorious things we found before in their albums, with a few new flashes yet being their most precise and targeted release until now. Their new album is not a new collection of songs, their new album is a complete A-Ω work which was achieved by a unique collective hand that speaks of this wonderful world of humans, deconstructed.
Τhekla Tselepi: Voice
Angelica Vrettou: Lyrics
Giannis Papaioannou: Music & machines
Henrik Meierkord: Cello on tracks 4, 6, 8
Dinos Zouberis: Electric bass on tracks 4, 8
George Magouras: Guitar on track 5
Christos Avdelas: Acoustic & electric guitar on track 8
Music written, arranged & produced by Giannis Papaioannou.
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Written by Loud Cities’ Mike
