São Paulo Death Rock : Rakta

Ratka says they are not trying to attach themselves to any specific genre (peace-punk, anarcho, death rock, goth, post-punk) however the group's desert island picks in a 2014 cvltnation.com interview were intriguing enought that I was inspired to check out their music for myself.

Q: A question I ask all bands: If you all were stranded on a desert island, and somehow magically had the means to play records, but could only take 5 records with you, what would those 5 records be?

Natha: Big Boys records and definitely Ramones.

Laura: Hahaha, maybe Cólera Pela “Paz em Todo Mundo” LP, Crass’s 7’’ EP “Nagasaki Nightmare,” Gauze’s “Fuckheads” LP, Las Otras’ “Devolver el Golpe” LP, and Ras Michael and Sons of Negus LP. Nyahbinghi compilation.

Paula: This is so hard. Om, “Advaitic Songs“; Pedro Santos, “Krishnanda“; Spacemen 3, “Playing with Fire“; Dead Can Dance, “Spiritchaser“; Pink Floyd, “Live at Pompeii.”

Carla: Melody Nelson, Serge Gainsbourg. Universal Consciousness, Alice Coltrane. Ramones, Ramones. Black Ark in Dub, Lee Perry. Garlands, Cocteau Twins. Future Days, Can.

Ratka's music definitely reminds me of an '80s crust punk band slowed down with a delay pedal and extra reverb to a speed better suited for slow motion head banging in a cave.

New Album Alert : Deradoorian

Los Angeles musician Angel Deradoorian has an impressive pedigree. She was the bass player and vocalist in Dirty Projectors. She has lent her talents to Slasher Flicks, an Avey Tare side band. She has offered vocals to the likes of Flying Lotus, the Roots, and Matmos to name a few. Her new solo album The Expanding Flower Planet on Anticon does not stray far from the creative company she has kept in the past. It is a hypnotic tapestry threaded by her complex vocal layers. Her voice charters a hypnotic Middle Eastern magic carpet ride that brings a listener to the exotic places that albums like Medulla by Bjork and Can's Tago Mago have explored in years past.