Née: Luis Vasquez, Justin Anastasi, and Keven Tecon
Raíces: The darkest regions of the human soul, with Cuban heritage
Sounds like: Soledad, Veronica, Deftones, and Bestial Mouths
You should listen to The Soft Moon because… they take heavy influence from San Fran avant-acts such as Chrome, Units, and Minimal Man.
So I’ve been holding on to this one as a kind of best-kept secret. The band was formed in 2009. Basically, Luis Vasquez is my demonic daddy. If Young Widows hold back their orchestral, Southern-band influences and stick to the garish, grungy, boiled over effect of Soledad, and if Grails vamp up their punk grinder effects, you might have the perfect concoction for a hex similar to the dizzying sound of Soft Moon’s music.
Not since I first heard Broadcast, Coil, or Dead Man’s Bones have I enjoyed something so exquisitely dreary. Bestial Mouths is also worth mentioning as a rough comparison to Soft Moon’s tendency for worn, grated, and raw vocals eerily scraped along a cauldron of phantasmagoric emotions, memories, feelings, and open sores. I have to also mention Veronica as a reference for the post-punk dark wave resurgence, mainly because I’d love to see their Dominican punk-roaring collide against Vasquez’ cold, Cuban, calculating metronome.
Soft Moon‘s self-titled debut practically ripped my soul in half when it was released in late 2010. The post-apocalyptic dread contained in the debut leaves me for dead, every time. Here Vasquez’ krautrock minimalism whispers threateningly against pOnk. The blurring work deafens, jolts, and simultaneously offers twisted moments of uncertain dance-ability. I find myself moping around in a primape-goth evolutionary retrograde every time I hear “Circles” or “Breathe the Fire.” The spiraling video for “Parallels” slightly echoes the sparse, tense, and avant-ly terrifying experimental imagery of Ingmar Bergman in demonic possession by some dadaist, or perhaps Max Ernst.
The EP Total Decay also packed a wallop, but Zero, their sophomore release due out October 30th on Captured Tracks, is already making me weak in the knees. The single “Want” is a bone shattering, dark dance death rattle. According to a recent Stereogum interview, Soft Moon backed last year’s debut with a darling tour with the longtime mainstream-creeping, dismally degenerate Interpol. They’re continuing their trot across the States and leap over the pond to Europe in support of this release. Remezcla relevant US tour dates as follows, but you might wanna catch the full tour dates because they’re passing through a hefty slew of West Coast cities, as we should expect from these San Francisco residents.
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TOUR DATES
10/30 New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom § +
11/03 Chicago, IL – Schubas Tavern §
12/12 Los Angeles, CA – Echo §
12/15 San Francisco, CA – Mezzanine §
+ with Pop. 1280
§ with Group Rhoda