^L_ – Music for Doomers (2024 – Brutal Forms/Italy)
The enigmatic and reclusive artist ^L_ has just released a new and intriguing EP on the Italian label Brutal Forms – focused on industrial electronic music and other heavy electronic styles.
“Music for Doomers” is heavy, dark, experimental and intense, very intense. With 4 tracks inspired by a nihilistic generation that often expresses depressive feelings, as they understand life as a dark reality that only gets worse. The archetype usually embodies nihilism and despair. This release is a portrait of this generation; a perfect soundtrack to what it’s like to be a “doomer”.
https://open.spotify.com/intl-pt/track/2UHqnYt1xXSI1pQPl8CvlR?si=a0d019f0f95c40da
The first track, ‘BDSM’, is an incisive melody of fetish and gabber that would fit perfectly on the dance floor of dark clubs and other underground and obscure places. The track contains distorted kicks and sounds of metals hitting each other – which will mark the sound of the entire release.
https://open.spotify.com/intl-pt/track/3qjSG2NFyvOJlMoIkCplty?si=94603a8592664d6d
The intensity continues on ‘Sad People Hunting Happy People’ with its piercing breakbeats, sharp metal tones and dark, reverberating ambient textures that represent a sense of chaos and anger. The title – SAD PEOPLE HUNTING HAPPY PEOPLE – is a perfect critique of positive toxicity, influencers, coaches and other forms of emulated optimism.
https://open.spotify.com/intl-pt/track/0qgZhZlldgpyXLG8uGsvCW?si=d31cadbfae8d40f6
‘Doomer Music’, with its cutting-edge synth, basslines reminiscent of EBM giants such as Front 242 and Skinny Puppy, spicy acid lines from 303 and heavy techno beats, takes the listener to a dystopian cyberpunk world that could take place inside the mind of any doomer.
https://open.spotify.com/intl-pt/track/5M8BeJ7GEArrO5QwaBGqOA?si=3460012a30684a0e
Religious themes are often addressed by the artist, so ‘Satan + Jesus + Judas’ brings together supposedly opposing concepts in an elaborate percussive melody that travels between drill and bass, edgy IDM breakbeats and the industrial realms. It’s impossible not to recognize the influence of artists like Squarepusher and Aphex Twin, especially from the album “Drukqs”.
With a sound that orbits between hardtechno, IDM, industrial, dark ambient textures and breakbeats. With a huge range of musical references, the musician (whose real name is Luis Fernando and lives in Brazil) presents one of his best works.
Long live the doomers!
