What’s in a name? In musical terms what you call yourself shouldn’t really matter, but it can. I can’t deny it, I pulled a face when I first read heard Mynationshit, a pseudonym that immediately jars. But the curled lip soon began to relax on hearing his music.
What’s in a name? In musical terms what you call yourself shouldn’t really matter, but it can. I can’t deny it, I pulled a face when I first read heard Mynationshit, a pseudonym that immediately jars. But the curled lip soon began to relax on hearing his music.
Carlos Martin has called General Hate Records his home for number of years, a Valencia based imprint. It´s on a sublabel of GH, Waste Editions, that the Spaniard’s latest outing, Malevolent Chamber, has been released.
Despite his harsh moniker, Martin’s sound is anything but. Warmth flows from pads, a blanket of lush synthwork envelopes the listener. His style is tricky to pinpoint. Set in the traditions of electro and analogue pop, Martin introduces whispers of punk and nods to electronica for a sound that is at once bright and dark. Vocals are another feature, shrouded in vocoders for the moody “To Ask for the Moon” before taking center stage in the emotion soaked “Innocence and Correctness.” In other tracks the machines are let do the talking. Rumbling arpeggios and sweetened notes usurp the lyrics of “Marmo” with “Built Environment” taking a more mechanical route.
Mynationshit has recently joined forces with countryman Sentionaut to form Red Blood Divine. Their first record, Sequenza Lunga, is a soundtrack inspired six tracker. Think dim lit streets, echoing footsteps, juddering synths and a fair helping of menace with a snapping beat. From the nightmarish disco of “Coppedé” to the gentle slides of “Gatto Nero”, this new release shows another side of Martin’s music. Two remixers feature. One is Spain’s own Synth Alien who dishes up his own late night terror, sinister bass lines stalked by demon eyed drums. Hyboid is the other. The German synth virtuoso, as ever, delivers gold in the form a catchy and cracking remake of the title piece
These records from Waste Editions have been on repeat in my flat. I actually found I had another CD of Mynationshit’s Struck Down By Faith was a constant feature of a recent drive to Valencia. Needless to say it was on also on repeat. The week before that I’d been round to a friend’s place, a music fiend who’s had Mr Martin play twice at his club night in Madrid and was singing his praises.
What am I getting at? The name I’m still not sure about. But what does that matter? I am positive of, and others appear to be as well, Mynationshit’s quality; and that’s all that matters.
Both Malevolent Chamber and Sequenza Lunga are available on Waste Editions. [Bandcamp | Soundcloud]
