The Witzard

Earlier this year, Moodie Black released their phenomenal third full-length album, LUCAS ACID , on Fake Four Inc. It features two lone features: one from French singer and song-writer p i e r r e m o t t r o n (Pierre Mottron) on "v a n o w e n" and another from rapper, singer, and Fake Four founder c e s c h i (Ceschi Ramos) on "l i p s." Moodie Black consists of long-standing members, frontperson Chris "Kdeath" Martinez and multi-instrumentalist Sean Lindahl ; they have been self-releasing their own music since 2011 and over the years, have partnered with Ceschi & Fake Four for a number of critically-acclaimed releases. I recently received a mysterious email entitled "MB I I I" from Kdeath , which contained a Zip file and what appeared to be lyrics for a selection of songs called "I. MOSS," "II. PINK POUT," "III. - Privilege," and "IV. Gasp, Then." After speaking with K , they soon info...

"Recorded over two years between Van Nuys and Minneapolis, LUCAS ACID is 45 minutes of pounding, unsettled intensity with intermissions of fractured melodic beauty. As the namesake implies, Moodie Black are masters at establishing mood, via richly textured backdrops that coil around K's delivery. There is a vocal clarity on LUCAS ACID that was somewhat lost in dense pockets of Noise on previous releases that allows for K's prose and story-telling to shine, with wraith-like wails and jarring screams filling in the negative space. Ceschi Ramos and French singer Pierre Mottron, also, provide guest vocals. On LUCAS ACID, K is coming to terms with life as a trans person of color in a country increasingly predisposed to pushing such individuals further towards the margins of its narrative; backed by their own meticulous production, a cacophonous collage of Shoegaze, molded distortion, sinister guitars, and Industrial Hip-Hop, Moodie Black speaks on identity, paranoia, love, ...