Pehrenhard
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private music

New deftones record surprised me. It bridges perfectly the different facettes of their modern sound - heavily layered, mid tempo shoegaze metal that doesn't divert much in loudness and intensity like the records up until SNW did, but does so in a incredibly beatifully arranged way. The songs are simply really good, sound like a unified vision of likeminded individuals, straight forward and to the point - making me understand a little better where they initially wanted to go with Gore before going a more proggy route on Ohms. 'private music' reminds me of Diamond Eyes and ATF in its urgency, well-roundedness and audio mix, some KNY in sonic depth and grandeur. The album is adequately overproduced w/o being messy, nonetheless I'd be interested in how the songs would've sounded with a little less vocal production and processing. It has their most inspired guitar playing in a while - more of the open chords I initially fell in love with back in 2003, paired with some attacky single note riffs of their more modern stuff and less of the riff murk they came up with on their last two records.
I reached an acceptance that deftones don't really do the sound anymore I fell in love with over 20 yrs ago - that sickly, sensual, minimalist, über dark and brooding post hardcore adjacent stuff with a rhythm section that's more rooted in dub and rnb; they're a full on metal band now and 'private music' does a perfect job to bring this accross.
BUT... I wish they didn't add the last track as it is. It's a jumbled mess and reminded me of what my problem with Gore was - a list of noble ideas executed in a vacuum, giving a messy, unconcluded and undercooked overall impression. What could have been an intriguing finale with some cool sound design left me confused and slightly frustrated... "MFs had to botch it again"
Except the album closer and some underdeveloved arrangements here and there the record truly poses as a major waypoint in their catalogue.

Some Demo Track

A demo track I was inspired to make while jamming with Bersten. It came around in an afternoon and was fun! Some heavy riffing with some melodic, more spacious parts pushing and pulling at each other, just the way I like it when dabbling into that kind of music. It's a little reminiscent to Spitfire and Scarlet without going into full chaos mode, which I've never been to confident in anyway. Made me think of my old band Sinatra a little, which are gearing up to play some reunion shows this year. Love those guys, wish them the best :)

back in the grind!

After AERM DIER I played with a local hardcore band called Bersten a little bit, but their sound would've had me act mostly out of my comfort zone for a while which I definitely wasn't up for at that time. I wanna do what feels right to me and that had me swim in unknown waters up to a point where I felt I had to bend my style and integrity to a degree which I didn't feel comfortable with. It's a great band, great people of which some of them I know for a very long time now and I wish them nothing but the best.
Meeting a couple of drummers this week to hang out and talk music a little. Met them online, could work out or couldn't, we'll see. No major red flags yet tho ;) one might be down to do sth poppy in the vein of Acid Moms and the other one seems like more of punk drummer - prepared some noisy hc punk riffs to throw in the ring.

Someone called Portishead "Enya for assholes" the other day and it rattled me to the core. Still thinking about it.

FEEL

2nd Pushpop release. That Roswell Level you were always terrified of and couldn't finish as a young one but having the amusing confirmation now that it's simply been a major mess - and now you're thriving.

AERM DIER Departure

I cherished playing with those guys and I hold them dearly on a personal level, but after some point it was clear to me that we were moving into a musical direction that I couldn't really identify with anymore. Adding that our pace in which our songwriting went was, as I perceived it, so slow, inefficient and overanalyzed I just couldn't identify with the project anymore. I was also more of a foil in the fold, even tho I proposed song ideas we mainly worked on pieces that came from our guitarist/singer, which was interesting and fun for a minute. I left the band amicably, the drummer left shortly after and afaik the band is split as of now. I hope that the main guy picks up the project again at some point and finds the right ppl to keep going on because he's talented as hell.

Abfahrt Video

AERM DIER Video I directed and edited.

men in public bathrooms

the feeling of a neverending loading screen between character selection and the Opening FMV before a tedious and clumsily integrated tutorial level

Mont Pétrole

Ex band I left in July 2025 after playing together for a little over a year. This is the debut release we recorded in Nov '24 in two days with my friend Nild Olbrich of No Plans For Any Future Recordings. It's a cool release with a unique sound, will forever hold it dearly.