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IRON LUNG RECORDS

   Once again, the nice blokes from Iron Lung greeted me with their exquisite taste in musical diversity. I have always looked at Music as a massive variety of colours, emotions and feelings of all sorts. Also, as a gateway to extra sensory experiences. What do we look for, in music? How does her warm breath comfort us, in hours of need or moments of intense joy. It is always there when you need it, and sometimes when you would prefer for it to not be there. It almost feels like it has a mind of its own, popping from everywhere. A multitude of bruises, emotional ones, scattered all over the individual’s soul. Open chest, open arms… pleasure and confidence in oneself.

   This week's alignment is the following: CAGES, KOBRA and ALL HITS. One of the best things about ILR is the posture they assume, regarding music. Music has ONE colour, music has ONE smell, music has ONE intention. And that is the premise by which ILR follows the path.

CAGES – “Tun” (excerpt)

   Suicide attempt, clinical death, coma. This was the trail vocalist Nola Ranallo took, in 2018, after a year long abusive relationship. It is hard stuff. It is, without a doubt, a hard blow to the jaw. Why? Because you end up adding images to the sounds, and those images are dark and heavy, full of pain and suffering, and that filters out to the music and through said music. Emotions are poured into lyrics and tribal drumming, passed onto the listener, that ends up feeling that pain, deep, in his stomach. It has been on loop for a while. It’s an excerpt – as stated in the beginning – of a 2-hour piece. You know when you are hurting, and you reach out for the music that makes you feel even more pain?! This is the same: it hurts. But pain is not always a bad thing, you know? Yeah.

KOBRA – “Confusione”

   Well, now that was what we call a “change of scenery”. We went from the dark, gloomy, musical expression of pain and suffering, to a bunch of  blokes, wandering around in dark Italian allies, pizzas and tiffosi. It is, and I dare say we all agree, quite a switch. And what do we have here?! Punk and saxophone. It has its amount of dark aura, it is not your standard bright colours Punk. No, no, no. It is uplifting, yes, but not happy nor cheerful. 

   Punk, as the musical vehicle of a message, was never – or should, in my opinion – intended to be pretty and clean, you know? It had something to say, and it was going to say it, even if that meant being rough and dirty! These Italians, these lads, they play Punk, with a twist. I could say that it does not sound like your classic Punk band, for it does not. I can see/hear some similarities to what the Brits are doing, nowadays, in the Punk Hardcore field, with that heavy bass and that dark guitar riff, all tucked away neatly, beneath this cheap, rotten production. ME LIKES A LOT. What else can I say? Go for it, mate!

ALL HITS – “Men And Their Work”

   I hate the label “female fronted band”. That means you have: men bands and women bands. This is just plain ignorant and disrespectful. But the media still uses this label, implying a group of women playing music, writing music, is something totally different from the rest. Again: ignorant and disrespectful… and ignorant.

   That being said: female trio, Punk Rock and British fragrance, some Post Rock elements, and you got ALL HITS. Truth be told, I have very little information on the band, but like back in the pre-internet dark ages, it was hard to know more about a band due to the lack of information, and I see myself, today, searching for too much information, about a band, when I should just be enjoying the music. And I will do that, just now! All I know about the band is this: 3 girls, Punk Rockers, British influence. Bloody good, mates! What else? Nothing else but that. Top quality. Love the vocals, love the groove, love the combination of all the elements. That bass is massive, really! What else? Really, head down to Iron Lung’s Bandcamp page, and just let yourself be dragged deep into the ground with all the tunes. Yes, the tunes, chap! This is really Britain ahahah

IRON LUNG RECORDS (BANDCAMP)





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