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Party Zero

by Live Skull

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  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Limited Edition of 150 (Transparent)
    Spined sleeve on 450gr paper - glossy coating
    Printed Inner Sleeve on 250gr paper - glossy coating

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    ships out within 3 days

      €22 EUR or more 

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    First Press of 350
    Spined sleeve on 450gr paper - glossy coating
    Printed Inner Sleeve on 250gr paper - glossy coating

    Includes unlimited streaming of Party Zero via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days

      €20 EUR or more 

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Includes unlimited streaming of Party Zero via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days

      €12 EUR or more 

     

1.
beware the enemy within, meet the killer inside me this is what it’s come to you don’t have to stay here, go kiss the ring of your defeated king fall all over yourself, while we disengage the false narrative he is a shiny object, to divert attention and stay in power there must be resistance out there why don’t you show me? come on and take me I won’t get dragged down by your conspiracies imagine if we had followed the science and embraced the blazing art of the poet priestess racing, riding raw streams of magic consciousness we are the living laboratory, the ones still making the scene we have a real role to play our systems are aglow find out where doubt lives, and let it go just because the flame is out, doesn’t mean it’s over bring it on, raw streams of magic consciousness while we’re here, we might as well set up a government take advantage of the soft targets the crush of crowd pushing up the stairs but beware of bright promises, miscues, false alarms the crooks, the blatant opportunists bring it on, raw streams of magic consciousness to wake us from this nightmare
2.
Mad Kingship 05:06
chasing the beat of unsettling allegations stranded on the inside, while outside flags are burning who will stand up to the aiders and abettors the reckless peddlers of lies and misinformation? it’s conscious, deliberate, corruption is no accident he’s a walking talking crime wave, an industrial strength noise machine that’s what happens when rumors run rampant and causes aren’t linked to effects anymore we’re waiting, counting the days until the voice of reason itself goes silent I wish you could have seen the huge clouds of dust a mob of angry protesters, tearing the place apart hold steady, here it comes the dysfunctional, mad kingship nothing to see here but ghosts in the pattern recognition machines I wish you could have seen, the huge clouds of dust a mob of angry protesters, tearing the place apart hold steady, here it comes… the dysfunctional mad kingship nothing to see here but ghosts in the pattern recognition machines
3.
Face to face it’s time to embrace the fear Armed in charge uniformed gathering the intel In the Information Age Where nothing is accountable It's easy to lie, harder to forgive Look sharp and straight They’re clever bastards No time to aim Don’t wait for answers One by One Neutralize the Outliers Lock it up Tear it down Raise the flags to let em know we're coming Charge the barricades with our fists Negotiations are a waste of time No one cares to believe it, no one dares to change their mind Look sharp and straight They’re clever bastards No time to aim Don’t wait for answers One by One Neutralize the Outliers Lock it up Tear it down Climb shout shake it Rise rage run break it Claw plow lunge kick it Lie steal burn now rip it
4.
would you consider letting go melt away what should have been, could have been is this the moment, you explain it to me having failed to find a strategy, for staying together we put off this moment far too long your words keep getting lost in your echo chamber, my consciousness shredder tell me your story again from your discrete echo chamber having failed to uncover a strategy for staying together fearing your fears won’t blow away these things happen everyday these tales from the echo chamber my consciousness shredder we could just let go melt away what should have been I thought I knew you well enough but your answers to my questions are scaring me half to death so what if i never live you down I can’t stay transfixed in this time, or place any longer I will never live you down, live you down
5.
the one is everywhere wherever you want it to be that was the shift I felt as my life progressed, it got harder that’s what i saw behind the scenes the dangers of disrupting the fabric of day-to-day life I wanted to stay close to my instruments to analyze the wire, as it catches fire most lines of sight don’t end on stars but on their fading flow the jury is out, whether the light you reflect will illuminate a path, through the dark times ahead no point looking back, all color has disappeared I have no sense of where i belong who’s to say what contributes, to a term of mental illness when it gets in your blood, it’s really hard to shake I thought i knew all the standard deviations but try and stay focused when your head is exploding they were gonna bump my allotment, cancel my certification I couldn’t just sit there with everything up and running most lines of sight don’t end on stars but on their fading glow the jury is out whether the light you reflect will illuminate a path, through the dark times ahead through the dark times, ahead
6.
Flying Blind 04:14
I miss my secret audience humoring me as i disappear I have no sense of what comes next among sinking expectations and promises of a wild ride while flying blind and living with fire flying blind, and living with fire I don’t know who’s responsible for carrying out my detailed instructions racking up collisions and miscalculations amid ghosting and false accusations saying anything provokes weeks of delay like swimming upstream in extra dimensions there’s gonna be long term consequences for flying blind and living with fire we’re flying blind and living with fire
7.
Party Zero 04:18
you’re moving by so fast like you’re in tune to a different light in cosmic colors no eyes can see a shooting star, burning through the night out where no one can comfort you when things stop going your way I’m searching for a new way to see the sky to detect your distant emanations it is data that lie outside our expectations that point us closer to the truth and we can not underestimate the power of persuation or the allure of self-destruction we will not move on as they try and get away with it we’ll shine a light and double down on recovering what we lost we will not follow their decadent drift into the past we will rally to drown out their background noise that grows more dangerous everyday the tide is turning, watch them wash away watch them wash away
8.
we travel far beyond anything remotely familiar the sky darkens, as the air begins to stir we’re coming in with nothing but something’s alive out there something whipped up in a lab beyond our wildest imaginations here at the edge, the point of no return tongues of radio fire, get closer and closer so this is what lies ahead gas terminals, industrial sheds choose your adventure wisely inhale, submerge surrounded by wrecked trucks and barbed wire it’s almost pitch black I can’t even see the back of my hand it doesn’t change much, sinking in time diving into the wreck but all the clues have pushed me here screens flicker to life in front of me Geiger counters cli ck furiously we came here to see what the end of the world looks like all my intimate spaces seem ready to collapse disorder around every corner here inside the exclusion zone
9.
My throat is choked and dried out From all the howling of the day You’d think we’d run out of words Shoulders sore from carrying the weight And all the noise that crawls into my brain While the same blue sky drags across the screen Gotta toughen my skin Gotta harden my soul Got to fuel the friction Turn Up The Static Voices speak just to be heard Spitting poison and heartache There’s no escape I watched them fall, I watched them feast Grinding bones into piles of deceit I lay my head on the hearts of the diseased Gotta toughen my skin Gotta harden my soul Got to fuel the friction Turn up the static
10.
Hit So Hard 03:58
you don’t have to give yourself up or explain to me why you left or how you fell for someone else’s version of reality everything is lost in the blink of an eye there’s a thin line between deceit and self-deception no apologies, no guilt, no drama when you’re dreaming from the start like your rummaging through the ruins with a flashlight after dark I had to find something extreme to occupy the back of my mind you haven’t been yourself for a very long time letting yourself go a long, long time ago in a profound turn-around of self-animated doubt a desparate tantrum of style that hit so hard sometimes you hit so hard you hit so hard... I didn’t mean to make you do it to push you out the door I remember picking myself up off the floor I made a promise to myself never go quietly into the night I’ll never play that game again, in the dark you don’t have to give yourself up or explain to me why you left or how you fell for someone else

about

“Getting in a room and being really noisy is just a natural response to what's going on right now, because otherwise you’ll just go crazy. That gave Live Skull a reason to exist again.”
– Mark C

"This is the sound of NYC. Party Zero is their third post-rebirth album and damn is it good. Complex, subtle guitar textures and rhythms. Downbeat, haunting vocals." - 8/10 Classic Rock - Everett True

Legendary New York veterans are back! Their new album 'Party Zero' – their third since rising from the grave – is one of their finest. Big in sound and brash on dynamics, while sophistication remains an essential element. The fusion of noise and unexpected tunefulness delivering a heady, psychedelic effect. This remains protest music of uncanny subtlety and power, over a chiaroscuro modern post-punk. It’s the sound of Live Skull in the 21st Century: timeless, angry and beautiful.


Insurrections. Global pandemics. The return of fascism. Climate crises. These are some serious times. But if you’ve got angst in your pants and you need to dance, or scream, or play guitar too loud too close to your amplifier, turn your ear to what Live Skull are doing. The New York noisers, who went on indefinite hiatus just before their kind of smart, gnarly, inventive din became lucrative, rose again in 2016. Their new album 'Party Zero', a thrilling work redefining what Live Skull means and what they stand for: no longer a group with a past, but one with a future.

'Party Zero' marks the arrival of guitarist Dave Hollinghurst, an electrifying presence pushing the band in a fresh, new direction. It’s a fiercely political album, in keeping with this politically fierce age. “Desperation inspires us to make art and music,” he says. “There’s a lot of birth and rebirth, looking for pathways of resistance and promoting the good and trying to fight against evil. I once said we had to start Live Skull because Reagan became president. And we had to restart Live Skull because Trump became president.”

'Party Zero' is big in sound, brash in dynamics. But the sophistication that was always the group’s calling card remains an essential element, dealing in the kind of pulverising pell-mell that characterised the 80s New York sound, but also radiant with melody, the fusion of noise and unexpected tunefulness delivering a heady, psychedelic effect.

This is timely music, essential, impassioned, angry and beautiful. It’s the sound of Live Skull in the 21st Century, a desperate time that needs heroes like these. “We’ve been pushed to the edge – how do we claw our way back?” asks Mark. “That’s been a common theme in Live Skull since the beginning, and so it is now. We’re trying to provoke thought.”

credits

released May 26, 2023

Live Skull are: Rich Hutchins Dave Hollinghurst Kent Heine Mark C.
Recorded at Deepsea - Hoboken NJ by Mark C
Produced by Live Skull
Mastered by Fred Kevorkian
Cover Art + Design: Mark C - Layout: Alec Ferrel

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about

Live Skull New York, New York

Formed in 1982, Live Skull is considered by many aficionados to be the quintessential New York noise band. Together with Sonic Youth and Swans, Live Skull defined the term "noise rock" in the 1980s, spearheading the post-No Wave underground music scene in NYC with a series of legendary live performances and eight groundbreaking records released over the course of that decade. ... more

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