Tuesday 10 October 2017

***SAMARRA + мятеж split exclusive premiere***

BandSAMARRA
GenresPunk / Hardcore / Emo / Screamo / Skramz / Emo-violence / Powerviolence
Related artistsCaust, .gif from god, Majorel, This Land Is Now Dead, Truman and Tri-State Killing Spree.
CountryRichmond, Virginia U.S.A.
Years Active2016-present
Song: "Trauma Literature"
Album: "We Feel We Are Accomplices"
Year: 2017
For fans ofWelcome The Plague Year, Caust, .gif from god, Majorel, Truman, Foxmoulder, Joshua Fit For Battle, Guidelines, Frail Hands, Ruhaeda, Ostraca and Off Minor aka PROPER SCREAMO.
Label(s): Self Released / Zegema Beach Records
This post's artist is from the October 2017 Mix. This is track #3.
You can download: the October 2017 Mix#10 right here or get the new November 2017 Mix#11 here.

SAMARRA are, simply put, fucking amazing. Easily distinguishable by bassist Drew's low-end yells accompanied by drummer Will's ridiculous/unreal shrieks. Guitarists Mitchie and Benson also provide the odd scream and both play in my beloved Truman together. The instrumentals create a dark, unstable mood that is sometimes inviting but generally volatile, rupturing with heaving swells that crash and create mesmerizing spells of grooving, jammy sections. Ooooo baby. Imagine Truman and Majorel's baby, if you will, as the likeness is noticeable.

My obsession with SAMARRA began back in 2016 when I first heard who was in the band thanks to my good friend Jesse Mowery. They were playing the Swamp Fest II pre-show and I was pumped to see members of Caust, .gif from god and Truman playing in a band together. So then, theeeeennn I saw SAMARRA play on August 12th and they blew my mind. No embellishment here. None needed, cuz I was fucking smitten. Read about it and watch four videos here. Immediately after their set I approached the band and asked if they would consider doing a split with our project мятеж, to which they agreed shortly thereafter. With nothing else to listen to for quite some time, I downloaded and digitally exhausted the demo version of "Drama in the Walmart Restroom" that was included on the Swamp Fest II compilation. The song's desperate vocals and pulsating bass drive the lo-fi recording, which has been rerecorded during SAMARRA's first proper recordings and will appear on the upcoming split.

In September of 2017 SAMARRA sent me their first official release to be linked/premiered on this very blog, and so it was. Right here, to be exact. 'We Feel We Are Accomplices' is amazing. This digital "demo" was dropped on an unsuspecting audience and instantly eaten up. And rightfully so. The swaying intro of "Fear of Intimacy" includes a bit of singing before dipping heavily into Welcome The Plague Year territory. "Wrinkle in Time" is brooding as fuck, with fantastically balanced dual vocals at the 30-second mark, seething breakdowns and a blistering finale. My favourite of the three is "Trauma Literature", which ascends a beautifully scenic mountain in a mere 50 seconds before the song goes fucking bananas and shreds like nobody's business right up until the 1:38 conclusion. Hoooooly fuck.

And guess what? Today is the day I release what is probably tied for my favourite SAMARRA song, the second track on the upcoming мятеж split cassette. The song is titled "It Is Fine, Everything Is Fine" and it breaks off into this dreamy, jammy bit at 20 seconds that brings me to my knees every time I hear it. There's also the crushing final half of the song that is so epic that my mind automatically pictures a medieval castle being bombarded. True story.

Lyrics:
Drew: "Do you really have that much invested in believing everything is perfect just the way it is? Ignore problems within your homogenous social group so you can tell yourself you're changing the world. Which somehow still remains the same defend your complacency with your life. How punk rock is that?"

Will
: "'mission accomplished' mentality toxic normative apathy rework these imbalances start with yourself, then flood all else arrogance dries out the well"

[Written after an argument in which I defended the necessity of safer spaces within DIY culture and someone told me that such safety should already be implied due to punk's progressive politics--which is much easier to assume when you're a cis white dude. Ask anyone in the scene who isn't one, they'll tell you. --Drew]

The cover art for this upcoming мятеж split tape is from a picture that I took in New Zealand on my vacation here in 2010. During which, my wife and I visited a geothermal reserve in Rotorua and I snapped this unaltered, sick pic. My friend and fellow The World That Summer mate Jesse Stratton did all of the layout and I think it looks pretty dang sweet.

Oh, and here's a new мятеж song to make this split premiere complete. It's called "That Ain't the Friggin' Xmas Star" and is the opening track on our side of the split. It's short. It's loud. It's мятеж.
song!

Pre-order the tapes in the U.S.A./Canada/Europe here and New Zealand/Australia/Asia here, shipping late October 2017, only from Zegema Beach Records and the band. The split will be premiering in its entirety late October on We Built The World And Miss The Stars blog.

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DISCOGRAPHY

2016 - Swamp Comp II compilation cassette (stream/donate/download here) [buy tape here]

2017 - We Feel We Are Accomplices digitalEP (stream/donate/download here)
2017 - мятеж split cassetteEP [buy tape from Canada here or New Zealand here]

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(2017) SAMARRA - "It Is Fine, Everything Is Fine" (from 'мятеж' split)

(2017) SAMARRA - "Trauma Literature" (from 'We Feel We Are Accomplices')

(2017) SAMARRA - "A Wrinkle in Time" (from 'We Feel We Are Accomplices')

(2016) SAMARRA - "Drama in the Walmart Restroom (demo)" (from 'Swamp Comp II')

(2016) SAMARRA - "It Is Fine, Everything Is Fine" live video from Swamp Fest II

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SAMARRA  additional links

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