Tag Archives: salem

Due to the nature of how we listen to music in 2010, there are few surprises left. Before an act releases a proper album (a medium whose time may very well be up), they are dissected and analyzed like a frog on a 9th grade biology table. And just as sure as that frog has sat on its last lily pad, musicians are rarely afforded the chance to make a second impression.

On their debut LP King Night, Salem doesn’t seem to care about that. Or about anything else.

If you’ve heard them by now, you know what to expect. Chopped-and-screwed drum machines, epic synthesizer melodies, spooky moans and drugged-out raps. Salem’s distinct brand of drag is what sets them apart from countless witch house acts, more eager to insert triangles and crosses into their names than to make interesting music. But if you’ve heard Yes I Smoke Crack or their symbiotic remixes of Gucci Mane and came away unimpressed or turned off, King Night won’t change your mind.

Throughout the album, Salem gets deeper, darker, and more intense than ever before. For music that revels in drone, it is addictive in its dynamism. The title track opens the album, with bits and pieces of “I Love You” and “O Holy Night” fused to minimalistic trap beats and the echos and feedback of a mournful melody. “Asia,” the second single (I use that term lightly) off the album continues the death march with a drum corps’ intensity. The faux-snuff clip picks up where “Skullcrush” left off.

The heavily processed vocals of Jack Donoghue could pass for Gucci on songs like “Sick,” “Trapdoor,” and “Tair.” John Holland and Heather Marlatt stick to singing (again, loosely), exchanging groans and whispers on “Release the Boar” and “Frost.” On the latter, Marlatt’s vocals waft over footwork-inspired beats and waves of synths that hold – wait – is that a sense of “hope” amid all this darkness?

Arguably the group’s strongest song, “Redlights” is back yet again; the shifty, stuttering anthem is revamped for The Big Time and sounds great. “Traxx” plods along with an industrial sample that can’t help but evoke the “Law & Order” sound, but with off-kilter percussion that again references footwork. By the time the last jangly guitar chord drones on closer “Killer,” the listener is left with a sense of foreboding dread that they can’t quite put their finger on.

Salem knows what they are and what they do best: gothic trap music with a hint of mystery (even if unfortunate interviews and even more unfortunate live performances have lifted the curtain a bit). King Night succeeds by being a pitch-perfect set of upsetting mood music. Even if that’s what you expected.

FOUR OUT OF FIVE STARS.

Salem makes scary music. Music that exists somewhere between chopped-and-screwed, industrial, and dubstep – a dreary, grating, drugged out amalgamation that is challenging and unforgiving. And I can’t stop listening to it.

This week, Salem released a mixtape for DIS magazine, an art outfit that fits the Salem worldview. The mix, entitled Raver Stay Wif Me, is 32 minutes of both familiar and obscure tracks, twisted and manipulated to the edge of recognition. The titular raver is paid tribute by classic tracks like “Better Off Alone” by Alice Deejay, “Sandstorm” by Darude, and “Can’t Stop Raving” by Dune, trance tracks whose hypnotic affect is still apparent, even if the music is better suited for cough syrup sipping than Ecstasy popping.

Download SALEM – Raver Stay Wif Me (courtesy DIS magazine)

It may be an act, but only Salem is twisted enough to include a track by a convicted sexual predator: South Park Mexican‘s “Vogues” is a record-skipping center piece of the tape. Too sick for you? They include “Unchained Melody” and “Young Forever,” classic love songs that just seem wrong in contrast to the rest of the mix.

Not much is known about the Michigan trio of John Holland, Heather Marlatt, and Jack Donoghue; they don’t give many interviews, or take photographs, or humor the social media crowd. Instead, they keep a public image that mirrors their music: dark, mysterious, unnerving. Their music videos don’t give many clues, either, except that the band may need psychological help. Check out the NSFW clip for “Skullcrush,” a video that makes M.I.A.’s “Born Free” look like a Disney film.

http://vimeo.com/5704072

Raver Stay Wif Me is another required listen from a group whose limited press EPs Water and Yes I Smoke Crack are equally challenging and rewarding. And if all this is too dark for you, check out their remixes of Gucci Mane, a match made in Hell.