projects

men killing men / delilah

- 12" split vinyl with linz hottest ex-band MEN KILLING MEN and the mighty DELILAH
- inkl. including freaky sexy weird poster
- inkl. cd 
- autumn 2009 dance-video-theater performance

mkm / delilah radio session:
24.06.09 - radio fro: live streaming - www.fro.at

men killing men

the bandname, the cover design, the music, the message, all of this makes fond memories of younger, more enthusiastic days come alive, when the music i listened to was fast, harsh and direct to the bone, when i read political fanzines the same way i read lyric sheets in hardcore/punk-records and when I actually got excited about new records by bands i only had ever read about. skipping the nostalgia about my hardcore / punk-days, which in reality never really happened too much outside my romantic mind, men killing men are far away from the next run of the mill trash-core band (or whatever the current as fast and as screamy as possible-trend in hardcore is called these days, back then there was power violence, screamo, you name it…) but men killing men are a fusion of a lot of other things as well. they take equal parts noise rock (another old time favorite, but this one i think i did live in some ways, but that only needed flannel shirts and beer drinking, easy!), the dynamics of emo-core and the ability of avantgarde noise to mix it with the attitude of punk rock. and yes, the mixture works, a lot better than you might think. it works fantastically.
this is the reason why men killing men may sound like an old dischord band in one moment, like the ruins in the next and like a teenage screamo band in the next. vocals are mostly screamed, hoarse and directly from the throat, while the instruments slowly build up a thunderstorm of blasting drums and sharp guitar-bass-work. these three guys probably spend four out of six evenings in their rehearsal room to work out songs and then really make those stop and go’s, those breaks and those changes in structure work. probably that is why there are just seven songs on this record. another reason might be that it is a one-sided 12” so the other side of the vinyl could be dressed in a nice silk screen printing. well, the fat layer of paint does look good on the thick vinyl, that is true. but when we are all desperate and devastated at the state of the world today, we might as well wallow in the darkest of conspiracy theories as well.
actually, men killing men, albeit their sound, their name and the record title “freundschaft durch konsum” (friendship by consumerism / purchase, transl.) are not complete nihilists nor wading through a swamp of teenage miserability, misanthropism or depression. there is a lot that goes wrong in the bleak and void world, that they paint in their lyrics, both emotionally and physically void by the way, but there is always also a ray of something good, which usually focuses on a certain “you” being there in the same hell also. me, personally, i am of the opinion that shared pain is at least 50 % more pain than half the pain, but I’d also admit that it is a lot better to be stuck in shit up to your neck with someone you like than being left that way alone. the dance on the vulcan to celebrate the end of society as we know it has received another fine sample for its soundtrack.
as a final word: these days brand managers and marketing leaders are trying to build their brands into something that leaves “lovemarks” at the consumer, something the consumer has a “deep and binding relationship” with and that he is able to identify with because of “shared experiences”. yes, they really talk this way about the names of their products. i don’t know it this is a side of something that the band had in mind, when naming their album “freundschaft durch konsum”, but a lot of brands are aiming at something alike: where people say that they prefer this or that brand because of some non-physical characteristics. like apple and the ipod, nike sneakers or nescafe-coffee-tabs, where people pay price premiums of 250 % and more just because of the image that had been produced by marketing executives. which makes me think that the end of the world, unlike the vision that men killing men paint of it, will not be a devastated, empty space with a cold wind blowing, but rather an infinitely blinking and ad-rotating hell of sparkling brand-messages. ah well, “freundschaft durch konsum” is a fine soundtrack for that as well.

line-up:
chrisi (guitar, voc)
fabi (bass, voc)
domsch (drums)

discography:
2008 einfrieren kapu-sampler
2007 freundschaft durch konsum one-sided 12"
INTERSTELLAR REC.

delilah

the ravages of time always hunger for all that is animated, for fresh meat and warm blood. what is static or stationary they don t take a glance at. founded in 2005, delilah are taking the thrill of vibrancy.
this art of being alive includes the test, the operation, yet many more tests and by definition not the exit. the experiment contra the haze of immortal repetition, the confrontation with the fragileness of curiosity.
now their third record (12“ split with men killing men – zach-records) is about to be released into the ears of those willing to be confronted.
no deadlock and the eye of the beholder is mezmerized.

tom grüner: bass
markus merzinger: drums
stephan blumenschein: guitar, voc

discography:
2007: „s/t“ EP, CDR, zach-rec.
2008: „ich bin mein zentrum“, EP, CDR, LP, self distribution (promotion: trost-rec)
2008: „einfrieren“ kapu-sampler

shows in austria, czech rep., germany, belgium, france, switzerland, hungary

 

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