Next Totentanz w/ M!R!M

This Saturday M!R!M will be performing in Copenhagen for the first time. If you're curious about what to expect from them, then check out my previous post which is some kind of review of their debut album Heaven. Really great stuff, and from what I've heard they've killed at the previous concerts on their European tour, so you don't want to miss this concert.

Support acts are Giedo Primo from Odense and Avantgardenparty from Copenhagen. Giedo Primo plays a mixture between electronica and classic industrial with plenty of metal sounds. He describes it as skrotstep, as skrot can be translated to metal junk. He's rather unknown to most Copenhagen folks but always gets praised by the attendees at his concerts.

Avantgardenparty is a brand new band, so it's hard to know what to expect from these two locals. The drummer Kim is also a member of bands such as Chainsaw Eaters and MOTH, while Loui is quite new in the music bizz. They describe their sound as post-rock, but from the rehearsel room demos I've heard, they've got some shoegaze vibes going on as well.

DJ Skumlibar will be playing classic industrial, post-punk and cold wave before and in between the bands, while I - DJ Géza - and the Swedish DJ Slackerbitch will be spinning records at the afterparty. Expect cold wave, deathrock, post-punk and minimal.

It all takes place at Underwerket in the Valby-district of Copenhagen, doors open at 20:00 and the entrance fee is going to be 50 DKK. The bar is among the cheapest in the city, so there's no reason to cheat oneself for a somber celebration.

M!R!M - Heaven

Initially started as a duo, M!R!M is now the solo project of Iacopo Bertelli, an Italian living in London. Last year saw the release of his debut album Heaven, which comes of like a superb fusion of effect-driven guitars and cold, cold, cold synthezisers. This album really strikes a note with me and seems to become better on a day to day basis.

Heaven has got an overall gloomy and eerie atmosphere to it. The synthezisers creates a cold and alarming feel, and it could very well have been included on the soundtracks to sci-fi classics such as Alien and Blade Runner. Especially the latter seems to make much sense, as there's some serious melancholic moods taking place on this album. Imagine a mixture of the aforementioned soundtracks and a project like Tropic of Cancer, and you get the idea. Somewhere in between these synths lies the effect-driven guitar sounds, reminiscent of early The Jesus and Mary Chain. In fact these guitars are so bathed in effects that it's sometimes hard to distinquish them from the synths. On a track like Sodoma, it almost sounds like it's a chainsaw making the noise, but since Bertelli isn't Frank Tovey I will have to assume he's not that crazy.

This is a quality album and should appeal to everyone who loves stuff like Tropic of Cancer, The Soft Moon, My Bloody Valentine, The Jesus and Mary Chain and those haunting sci-fi soundtracks of the eighties.