Sol Invicto - French toast (Free download)

Last week Sol Invicto released a track off their upcoming release Initium III. The new trach, French toast, is a collaborative effort between Richie Londres, Stephen Carpenter (Deftones), and Mark Caro (Tech Itch).

French toast sounds like a mash-up between something by Fear Factory and a b-side from the Deftones 'Saturday Night Wrist' sessions. I really dig the vocal elements, which made me think of Annie Hardy's (Giant Drag) contributions to Pink cellphone.

Caro also worked on Sol Invicto's previous release Diaz brothers, which I forgot to post about when it was released.

There are rumoured to be three more tracks to be released from Initium III, the next track being titled Pancake, while another may or may not be called 'Black pudding.' There are plans to release physical copies of the Initium series in the near future.

Sol Invicto - Alma (Free download)

Richie Londres has released a new track under the Sol Invicto moniker to close the year with. Alma contains driving synth lines, and the characteristic groove we have come to expect from the Sol Invicto.

If you like what you hear, check out the rest of the rest of the Tapes series, as well as the Initium EPs.

Okujira - King whale

Okujira, the collaborative project between Richie Londrez (Sol Invicto) and Amy Yanick (Thekeenone), is back with another ripper. King whale continues the collaboration between Thekeenone (Amy Yanick) established with the first track, Black gold.

I'm really enjoying this series of collaborations, and am looking forward to hearing the material the duo will come up with when Yanick begins recording her new solo album "very soon," which is to be produced by Londrez.

As per usual, if you like what you hear, download links are provided in the widget.

Sol Invicto - Turtle massacre

When I opened my email this morning there was a great treat waiting for me; a new track in Sol Invicto 'Tapes' series called Turtle massacre. The track is dark, and brooding, and you should just listen for yourself reading the accompanying story (after the jump) posted to Soundcloud and Facebook.

"This is the origin of the great battle & the birth of Seastep.

Nightfall, just the sounds of the ocean against the sandy shore, the giant turtle warlords lay silent, thousands of them, lining the beach, their dark grey armored, battle worn shells stretching out for miles. The sea was calm, yet something about that night, felt strange. The lower ranking warriors took it in turn to watch over the camp, proving their worth, paying their dues. They would attack at dawn, taking no prisoners, this was it, their enemy did not stand a chance.

Not long into the watch, one of the guards picked up on a light, far far out to sea, a red, an almost laser-like beam...they needed line of sight on this, now! Another guard was signaled, and they peered through the coral binoculars to get a better idea of what this was.

Staring right back at them, two hundred pairs of eyes, eyes red like fire, the fire of death, riding a ghost tsunami, headed straight for the camp!!

They had all but minutes, to wake the army and act before, the massacre descended upon them." 

-Richie

I'm definitely liking the sound of 'seastep.'

New tune from Sol Invicto

Sol Invicto have added another single to their Tapes series. Gleech starts of sounding like an anthem for the impending apocalypse, but at around 50 second mark the sounds of the lost souls begin to give way to an infectious beat.

I've had Gleech on repeat for the last half hour or so, and I'm loving it. Now to wait for the rumoured second offering from Richie Londres' other project, Okujira.

New Sol Invicto and Okujira tracks

Richie Londres has been a busy guy. On Monday (Sunday if you're part of the Comiti) Londres' project Sol Invicto released another track as part of their Tapes Series. Unlemon was manipulated and recorded live. As Londres described it, "nothing fancy just some noise." 

This morning Londres released a video for the début track from another of his projects, dirty hip hop group featuring Amy Yanick, Okujira. The song is called Black gold, and it reminded me of Saul Williams' work. This might explain the recent Sol Invicto remix of the Williams' track Break last month.

Dead Beats and Sol Invicto remixes

Before releasing the last track to Initium II, Sol Invicto treated us to a remix of Saul Williams' Break. The track originally appeared on Williams' album The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust, which was produced by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails.

Speaking of which, local production duo Dead Beats released a remix of Nine Inch Nails track, The hand that feeds this weekend too. It's been a while since I've listened to the original With Teeth version, but hearing this reminded me of how much I liked that song when it was released in 2005. Dead Beats have taken all the elements I liked from the original, and breathed new life into it. This is well worth a listen if you're a fan of Nine Inch Nails, and like hearing other artists interpretations of relatively well-known tracks.

If you enjoyed the remix then check out Dead Beats other offerings. They also have three EPs that can be downloaded for free. Two of these were released under the duos previous name, Sparrow.

Apologies to Sol Invicto

Halfway through writing the previous post I realised that I've been spelling the title of Sol Invicto's EPs Initium and Initium II incorrectly for almost a year. Bugger.

At least it's a pretty easy mistake to correct, and since no one corrected me, I'm assuming no one had even noticed.

Also, you can find where to download both EPs by clicking on the links above. The first track from Initium III will be released next weekend. Yes please!

Sol Invocto 'Initium II - 12.0'

Today saw the release of the final track making up Sol Invicto's second album, Initium II. The track follows on the naming convention for the Initium series, and is named 12.0. Unlike other tracks from Initium II however, this one features contributions from several members of the Sol Invicto fan base. As such, the full list of contributing artists quite long; 

Sol Invocto featuring Kyle Sams, Jaakko Eskelinen, Chris Murphy, Sal Marsh, Maja Pasaric, Frankie Giustino, Soren Toft, Erik Bustos, Gussemburger Laurent, Dan Koetter, Logan, Endira F J, LC Chantre, Jorge, Nicholas Melton, Nicole G, Natalie McGeehan, Clinton Stonich, Tyrian Purple, David Yu, Gibson J, Lauren Bradley, Miles Kalbach, Darla Tempel, Alex Boswell, Jake Hoffman, NdSansbury, Chuy Naj, Haff, Appacasiapeyus, Steve Joliffe, Gianluca Grippa.

As well as having one hell of a list of contributors, 12.0 clocks in at over 10 minutes, making it the longest track on the EP. The resulting track sounds absolutely astounding, which is a testament not only to the artistic skills on the Sol Invicto members, but also to all the fans who contributed something to the project. Well done to all parties involved.

Sol Invicto preview video

Here's a fan-made preview video for the Initium II EP. The video was shot by Llyod Ramsay, who will also be directing the video for the track 10.0. Head on over to Vimeo, where you can download the clip, after watching it below.

Sol Invicto - Initium II from lloyd ramsay on Vimeo.

Free download from Sol Invicto: Initium II - 11.0

Sol Invicto have made the first 1000 downloads of their latest track 11.0 available for free. Grab it while you can. 

Also, get the rest of Initium II here.

Time to play a little catch up

I spent the last week attending a conference in North West Province, which resulted in me not posting here at all, despite quite a bit having taken place. So here is a round up of all the downloads, videos, and other stuff that has taken place in the last week or so.

Music

Sol Invicto - free downloads for 9.0, 10.0, and a new version of 13.0
Deftones - music video for Romantic dreams

Palms - an even better music video for Future warrior
Polyfuse - free download of The Persistent | The Unobtainable

Gaming
Grand Theft Auto V - various game play videos
Heavy Rain - I started playing it

Other Stuff
Nespresso - We bought a coffee machine

More to come!

Download three new tracks from Sol Invicto

A few days after releasing 8.0, Sol Invicto treated us to the next track from Initium II, with a download of 9.0.

Then a week on , Londrez skipped a few tracks and released the final version of 13.0 (should this not perhaps be labelled 13.1?). The demo version of this track was released late last year.

Without missing a beat, the track 10.0 was released the following day.

Now we all just have to wait patiently till Sunday, when the next track will be released.

Download the new Sol Invicto track

Here's the next track off Sol Invicto's second EP. The first track, 13.0, was released back in December 2012. From comments posted on the band's Facebook page, it sounds as though that version of 13.0 was a demo. The new track is entitled 8.0, and follows on from where the last EP, Initium left off. Listen to, download, and share 8.0 below.

First track off Sol Invicto's second EP

A link to download this track was sent to the band's mailing list on 3 November, with a request that the link not be shared anywhere. That was until yesterday, when the band's official Facebook page was updated with the following status:

Free to share, download new teaser track from Initium II - 13.0, EP coming very soon, get on the mailing list to get it first.

Kindest Regards

Richie, Stephen, AJ, Eric, Dan

Without further a due, here is the link so that you too may download 13.0, the first track to be released from Initium II. Original link has been removed, but you can get the new version of 13.0 here.

(Un)official Sol Invicto videos.

I first came across Sol Invicto a few months ago, when looking for something else. Sol Invicto is comprised of producer Richie Londres (Cultura Londres Proyecto), A.J. Cookson, Stephen Carpenter (Deftones), Eric Bobo (Cypress Hill) and Dan Foord (Sikth). The music is a mix of drum & bass and electro, infused with Carpenter's signature guitar riffs. The band is set to release their second EP in the next few days.

The following videos to accompany tracks from the first EP Initium were entirely fan-made. Both have imagery of a dystopian future reminiscent of those from cult music videos by Nine Inch Nails, science fiction movies such as iRobot, The Matrix, The Terminator, Avatar and The Island, as well as from award winning computer games like Command & Conquer, Half-Life and Portal, interspersed with archival footage and stills of historical protests. All in all, the videos are incredibly well done and are a good visual accompaniment to the music.

First five tracks off Initium:

Last two tracks off Initium: