The sound of Nothing, produced by the Philadelphia noiserock, metal, shoegaze, hybrid band at the forefront of the mass assimilation of genres into metal seen in the mid-2000s was heard on the boldly confident debut full length, "Guilty Of Everything". Over the course of the following four albums on Relapse Records and their live tours of bewildering volumes and intensity, they remained at the center of this locus of genre assimilation of metal, arriving at this year's "A Short History Of Decay", for the label Run for Cover. Yet it is their collaboration with grindcore labelmates Full Of Hell, on "When No Birds Sang" that most fully epitomizes this mangling of genre distinctions into hypermodern forms. Touring this spring with fellow Philadelphia-based shoegaze bliss-noise outfit Full Body 2, Nothing are ideally positioned in the converging spaces between their melodic noise, the dream pop of Cryogeyser, and the bewildering assault of the "Death Rave", from Violent Magic Orchestra for a night at The Crocodile. The groundwork for VMO's endeavor in total annihilation of genre distinctions was established by Yellow Swans artist Pete Swanson, and his unhinged explorations in deconstructed club music and hard techno, heard on albums like "Punk Authority". Swanson acts as a sonic ringleader and producer for the Osaka gabber-metal-techno four piece, drawing members from Vampillia and light engineer Kezzardrix into what the band describes as, "It's an art project of incomplete harmony of techno, black metal, industrial, noise, and emitting light".
Concurrently on tour across the United States, a very different set of genre-evasive hybrids can be heard in the starkly minimal, angular, punkish electronic dance pop showcased by The Guardian in, "‘The Body was the Drums, the Brain was the Synthesiser’: Darkwave, the Gothic Genre Lighting up Pop". Sextile move closely around these same affinities, with assertively electro-punk variables of their own, detailed by Louder Than War in their interview, "Sextile: Yes, Please". These variables share an additional razor-sharp electronic and rhythmic edge with Sacred Bones labelmates The Soft Moon and Blanck Mass, the electro-pop of Pixel Grip, and the defiant electro-industrial noise of fellow Los Angeles duo, Youth Code. Their tour brings them together with the "PsychoWarrior: MG Ultra X" hyperactive neon-lit cyberpunk sounds of Machine Girl. Discussing their latest, which has been referred to as "obsessive, paranoid anthems for the end of world", the duo spoke which Revolver, "Machine Girl on Spitting Blood, Mashing Genres and Transcending Self", in which they discuss the confluence of influences that meet in their sound, where Lightning Bolt, Boredoms, Dillinger Escape Plan and again... references to the significant contribution of late 1990s British electronic music, Warp Records, and Aphex Twin, all play a significant role. Together the two acts will make for a night of electro-punk, breakcore, techno, and drum and bass at Seattle's Showbox Sodo.
