Nuovo Testamento has been releasing music consistently throughout their 6 year run. Their latest EP Trouble, released just this past July. Their most popular project is their 2021 album New Earth with their featured hit, The Searcher. The Searcher is catchy, dynamic, and serves as an echoing love letter to goth club pop of the past century.

Since their debut in 2019, Nuovo Testamento has been the shining star of goth clubs, replicating and revitalizing those time capsule sounds from the 80s and 90s. Members Chelsea Crowley, Giacomo Zatti, and Andrea Mantione place emphasis on their roots in Italian disco and synth pop, stating that they want listeners to “think of all of [their] favorite synth-era throwback hits mixed with a modern pop sensibility and songs that will carve their way into [their] synapses…and stay there.”

In a 2021 interview for POST-PUNK.COM, Zatti answered that the name Nuovo Testamento (translated to New Testament) came from the band’s Italian upbringing, and the deeply ingrained Catholicism within it. He said “We’re fascinated by the infinite misuses and misinterpretations of something considered so fundamental… The conflicts and contradictions in that conversation are so interesting and we were talking about it a lot at the time… we started making this music that was both light and dark… it just stuck,” (Zatti, for POST-PUNK.COM).

Their inspirations hold close to the Catholic imagery often present in the new wave and post-punk gothic projects of the 1980s. This era of U.K. New Wave bands were famously using music as a form of protest and developing a counterculture to their mainstream in the 1980s. Many European new wave groups like Siouxsie and the Banshees, Depeche Mode, and The Smiths all worked with art inspired by themes of Christianity, as Nuovo Testamento continues and reimagines their own relations with Catholicism and counterculture, continuing the tradition in the modern age.

If you still find yourself unconvinced, take it from the bandcamp.com users who recommend this band. Username blaxcodexx444 says, “The Searcher gives me Freestyle 80s vibe. I love the vocals and the synth beat are harmonies. I saw this band live, and I fell in love ever since.” User NobleNova says, “Growing up listening to 80’s music, this feels so reminiscent and nostalgic unlike anything else. I feel like I time hopped into a period of time I never got to experience. I seriously can’t get enough of this album.“

Catch Nuovo Testamento this Wednesday November 12th at the James Theater, more information on the show can be found here. Stay up-to-date with upcoming alternative shows in Iowa City from Track Zero with The Englert. With or without me, I hope you enjoy the show.

The post Concert Preview: New Wave Glamour with Nuovo Testamento at the James, Nov. 12 appeared first on KRUI Radio.

For those who are new to the band, Mannequin Pussy consists of 4 artists, Missy Dabice on vocals and lead, Kaleen Reading on drums, Bear Regisford on bass and secondary vocals, and Maxine Steen on guitar. They weren’t always called Mannequin Pussy, but I assure you the original name was just as upsetting to the status quo. And that has always been their goal.

Somewhat early on in their show, Dabice made it clear that part of the performance of their art is also conversation with the audience. I found that pretty respectable. It’s not by any means original to include the audience in the experience of art, but seemingly uncommon in mainstream music recently. Dabice began the conversation by discussing the profanity of their name. She told men in the audience to join her in repeating the word “pussy,” stating that their name isn’t funny and it certainly shouldn’t be uncomfortable anymore. And that the consideration of the slang for female genitalia is only inappropriate because of the misogyny that lies in sexualizing women.

At the time I was a little shocked by their openness to topics like this. As someone who has grown up in Iowa, I’m no stranger to the ideas of the reigning majority in the government. It felt surprising because I had really only delved into discussions like that online, in small circles of friends, or in books. It brought up a wider topic for the night about vulgarity and censorship. I found it really interesting because one could actually argue that it’s still inappropriate to use other slang for different genitalia, but ultimately the point is that society deeming parts of the human body inappropriate or vulgar creates insecurities and tension that harm everyone in the long run.

Later on, they would go on to speak on a different kind of suppression under class. Dabice stated that billionaires “want to keep [the middle class] in a fantasy state fighting for something that will never be [theirs]” and that fighting keeps us from realizing corruption. She said America does not center its rage on the correct demographic. The more we fight over politics or identity, the more we fall into a state of pawns. To quote, she asked the crowd to “pledge allegiance to [ourselves] and [our] community.”

The show was a great experience for me as someone who had been listening to a good handful of songs and only had a little knowledge on the band. The small venue also made it far more intimate for the audience. When they came out on stage it felt like you were meeting them in person. Maybe that had something to do with the amount of conversing between songs, but that aspect influenced my impression of the band greatly. Well, that and there was this feeling in their words that other than educating the audience, they also wanted to release this sort of cathartic feeling. The entire audience was invited to scream as loud as possible for as long as they wanted in the last ten minutes. And then they played Romantic as the closer and everyone in the room lit up.

In terms of music, the lineup was great, their set came to about an hour and fifteen minutes in length, and it was electrifying. The song lineup was a lot of their newer album, with some older favorites sprinkled in towards the second half. I found myself dancing a lot, much to the dismay of a guy and his preteen daughter next to me. (Sorry by the way, hope the concert was still pretty good even if you guys stood there the whole time). Mannequin Pussy makes music that makes you want to scream and sing and thrash around in all the best ways. My favorite song just happened to be their closer that night and that made the show all the more special for me.

In my personal opinion, I thought the show was really powerful. I would one hundred percent see them again just to do the same thing all over again. (Though I doubt any one show would be exactly the same kind of magical). Mannequin Pussy are not only extremely musically gifted, they are a visionary group and their shows fabricate a compassion for their craft and the people impacted by it like no other artist I have encountered. As their name would suggest, Mannequin Pussy is an unavoidable display of intimacy and beautifully crafted vulgarity.

The post On Speaking Aloud and Breaking Boundaries: Mannequin Pussy Mission Creek Festival appeared first on KRUI Radio.

I was never much for Midwest Emo before coming to college. The most experience I had with anything by the name of “emo” was the falsely declared pop punk bands of the 2010s. As always, I stumbled head first into the genre by complete accident and ended up loving it, and I wanted more. I felt like the boom of the genre was far too short-lived and then later found out that emo historically came in waves of popularity and resurgence. I absolutely predict that if this band can get big, we’ll see another wave.

@any_two_words

Midnight Doomer Cruise at Subterranean 5/10 @worldrenownfailure on IG #emo #fyp #midwestemo #diy #chicagodiy #music

♬ original sound – any two words

When I saw the TikTok featured above, I was starstruck. It was absolutely haunting to view such a beautiful song, and by complete accident. It almost felt like those religious experiences people say they can feel with live music. For them to capture that on video and still give the same emotional value was so mesmerizing. I needed more of it, and quickly. Luckily for me, they had just so happened to drop an album about a month before.

Any Two Words’ debut album, Double Vision, shares similar themes to most of the genre of Midwest Emo, from its eclectic naming schemes to its upbeat, fast riffs. Within it’s 13 song run is a mass of casual poetry. The album comes alive to an active beat that was insanely reminiscent of early 2000s pop punk. If I had to pick out specific influences, they’d be Pretty Odd by Panic! At The Disco, Analphabetapolothology by Cap’n Jazz, and Joy, Departed by Sorority Noise. It’s something I never knew I needed, but it satisfied completely a taste that I had been craving subconsciously.

I think the best thing about this album is just how satisfying it is to listen to on an end-to-end run. It has shattering lyrics piled onto tracks of varying seriousness. The whole thing is so loud it begs to be heard. No two songs sound exactly the same, yet they all flow so perfectly into each other. They follow different paces and different jumps in time. My favorite of these transitions had to be the end of “The Rock Gets Bottomer” into “Speed Cola”.

Speaking about track, “Speed Cola” has one of the funniest samples I’ve ever heard in a Midwest Emo song, which is a hard title to hold onto. It features a video of a little German boy talking about Fortnite and Coca Cola. You might question why I would bring something so stupid up, but that’s exactly why I brought it up. Any Two Words is a college band. I couldn’t stalk enough to find out which Chicago college they go to, if it’s really in Chicago or if it’s just in a suburb, but point being they’re just young adults. That’s what really brings the authenticity to this album. Being friends and having a fun time making goofy music in a nostalgic genre.

I can say with certainty that this album summed up my first semester of college pretty well. It has been full of living for the first time, creating that future nostalgia and bonds with people that the album captures in essence so, so well. At its core, this is an album about shared experiences and the commonality of Gen Z’s college coming of age experience. It’s about joking around with your friends and falling in love and hating your assignments and hating yourself and learning to grow up. Honestly, the most I can recommend for anyone to do with this album is to sit down and give it your full attention, completely uninterrupted. No screens, no books, no fiddling around with a Rubix Cube, just twiddle your thumbs and let it do its thing. Maybe grab the friends you love the most because they’d probably like to do the same with you.

Any Two Words please come to the University of Iowa next semester. We would really appreciate it. I promise.

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