Brazilian avant mavericks DEAFKIDS will be releasing their masterful album Configuração Do Lamento for the first time on vinyl and CD formats this October 6th via Neurot Recordings.
Neurot label founder and member of Neurosis Steve Von Till explains how he came across the band: "I first read about DEAFKIDS when I saw a headline from Cvlt Nation that read, ‘This Band Sounds Like No Other!’ My cynical nature believed that to be a tall order, so I decided to call their bluff and clicked on the stream… MIND BLOWN. I was not prepared for how much I would love this record. Raw, powerful, and explosive heavy psych. I think I listened to it three times in a row right then and there. I played it for my bandmates the first time we were all in a room together and we all agreed, ‘We need to put out a DEAFKIDS record.’ So here it is, for the first time on vinyl and CD, that very same DEAFKIDS recording that first lured me into their sonic world."
DEAFKIDS’ Configuração Do Lamento is an untamed release, happy to juxtapose monolithic drone riffage with frantic polyrhythmic detours, the band citing the syncopated beats of African drums as a major influence. It is a guttural, scorched mutation of psychedelia, that similar intent of frying the listener's perception, while void of anything approaching earthy wistfulness, wholly fluid in nature, paying no heed to any musical expectations other than the creators own internal logic. A bombardment of clanging percussion sits below relentless guitar battering, and a whole host of electronic tamperings, effects which in practice manage to further confound the proceedings. Using the term psychedelic in the absolute loosest sense is apt, as the band claims that “non-genre genres” are a chief source of inspiration, referencing anything from their own background in punk, right the way through to spiritual jazz, practically any form which allows the artist to experiment with the utter extremes of musical expression.
A key theme at the heart of this singular record is the crisis of identity within a colonized country, the conflict that arises when an imperialist culture is enforced, resulting in a drastic feeling of displacement. The music alone illuminates this theme, various contrasting influences seeping into the bands sound. As a project, they speak of the ramifications of cultural hegemony specific to Brazil, specifying that, "thanks to the way colonization happened here, a certain part of the Brazilian experience is bounded by a sense of fracture -- we're sons of the border... here and there."
Though the contextual aspects of the band are fascinating, they also insist that with music, there is a vital importance in surrendering to a degree of "non-rationality, on the sense that it should not be used as a narrative resource for spreading verbal/mental ideas". It's this collision of political outrage set against complete bodily and mental release, that makes DEAFKIDS’ Configuração Do Lamento an undoubtedly fearless and inspiring piece of work.
DEAFKIDS’ Configuração Do Lamento is an untamed release, happy to juxtapose monolithic drone riffage with frantic polyrhythmic detours, the band citing the syncopated beats of African drums as a major influence. It is a guttural, scorched mutation of psychedelia, that similar intent of frying the listener's perception, while void of anything approaching earthy wistfulness, wholly fluid in nature, paying no heed to any musical expectations other than the creators own internal logic. A bombardment of clanging percussion sits below relentless guitar battering, and a whole host of electronic tamperings, effects which in practice manage to further confound the proceedings. Using the term psychedelic in the absolute loosest sense is apt, as the band claims that “non-genre genres” are a chief source of inspiration, referencing anything from their own background in punk, right the way through to spiritual jazz, practically any form which allows the artist to experiment with the utter extremes of musical expression.
A key theme at the heart of this singular record is the crisis of identity within a colonized country, the conflict that arises when an imperialist culture is enforced, resulting in a drastic feeling of displacement. The music alone illuminates this theme, various contrasting influences seeping into the bands sound. As a project, they speak of the ramifications of cultural hegemony specific to Brazil, specifying that, "thanks to the way colonization happened here, a certain part of the Brazilian experience is bounded by a sense of fracture -- we're sons of the border... here and there."
Though the contextual aspects of the band are fascinating, they also insist that with music, there is a vital importance in surrendering to a degree of "non-rationality, on the sense that it should not be used as a narrative resource for spreading verbal/mental ideas". It's this collision of political outrage set against complete bodily and mental release, that makes DEAFKIDS’ Configuração Do Lamento an undoubtedly fearless and inspiring piece of work.
Watch and share DEAFKIDS’ new video created for the track "Pés Atados" HERE.
Neurot Recordings will release Configuração Do Lamento on 10” vinyl and CD formats on October 6th; stand by for preorder links and more in the weeks ahead.
DEAFKIDS will support Neurosis during their first visit to São Paulo on the 8th of December. More news and video clips will be released shortly.
DEAFKIDS Live:
12/08/2017 Clash Club – São Paulo, BR w/ Neurosis
Configuração Do Lamento Track Listing:
1. Veia Aberta
2. Entranhas
3. Lâmina Cortante
4. As Mesmas Ferramentas, Os Mesmos Rituais
5. Propagação
6. Pés Atados
7. Mordaça
8. Distopia Permanente
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