Back in 2018, Makeup and Vanity Set released an EP entitled PRIS, a collection of five songs that felt like it was inspired by Blade Runner, complete with a nod to Daryl Hannah’s character from the film. Over the next few years he released RUN and MOTHER, subsequent EP’s inspired by the additional Blade Runner replicants Zhora and Leon. On April 17th, MAVS completed the set with the release of ROY, an EP inspired by Rutger Hauer’s portrayal of Roy Batty, the primary antagonist from the film.

Without getting into a full review of the intricacies of the Blade Runner film (and all it’s various edits), the character of Roy Batty is portrayed as the “bad guy” but contains a multitude of complex emotions. He’s a replicant with a four year lifespan genetically engineered explicitly for off-world combat missions. His primary motivation is to live beyond the planned termination, as he fears his memories and experiences will be “lost in time, like tears in rain.” Like all good science fiction, partaking in this story asks the viewer to consider questions reflective of our own society. Questions around genetic engineering, the scarcity of life and the possibilities of redemption to name a few.

It’s quite possible to enjoy the soundscapes of the ROY EP without having knowledge of Blade Runner but understanding the context to the character, and the fact that he’s not a one-dimensional baddie, gives it additional life. The songs evoke direct references to the film through their titles but are subtle and textured, as a respectful homage to the multiple dimensions of the character. “A Gilded Cage” contains wind chimes and rain sounds creating a landscape of quiet, tortured, contemplation. “Tannhäuser Gate” is a direct citation of Batty’s final monologue, itself a reference to 1845 Richard Wright opera in which the character Tannhauser feels he has “fallen from grace with men and with God”, all wrapped up in a composition that feels searching and tortured.

It’s clear that Makeup and Vanity Set has the utmost respect for the nuance of Blade Runner. ROY and the accompanying EP’s are not caricatures of their personas, they are in-depth character studies. The instrumentation used to explore these may overlap with your standard dark-world, synth-wave artist but MAVS takes a much different tact; slow approaches and subtleties that ask the listener to dive deeper and pose questions about each of the antagonists. Just like good sci-fi should do.

Find the four EP’s embedded below as one playlist for the full listening experience.

When you’re a Halloween novelty band, it’s tough to stay relevant the other 11 months out of the year. However, Boo Dudes do a surprisingly entertaining job of finding ways to come across your radar despite it not being the general season of witches.

Case in point, they released the single “Dracula’s Coughin’” on April 20th (4/20) and it’s a surprising blend of psych rock, space metal and all out big riffs. You would think that the coughing in the title would be a reference to bong rips given the day of its release but, no, the lyrics are fairly explicit that Dracula simply slurped down his blood meal too quickly and it went down the wrong pipe. Perfectly absurd.

Boo Dudes praise aside, let’s take a moment to discuss how vampires play a role in our current self-isolation / quarantined world. As we all know, Vampires are not susceptible to illness; particularly ailments that they did not already have when they were turned. That’s just common knowledge. However, it’s also canon in some works that a vampire can transform into a bat; the very same animal that may be the original carrier of the COVID-19 novel virus. So, pulling these disparate threads together – is it possible that vampires have always carried the COVID-19 virus and lived with it for thousands of years in the same way that bats have? Could vampires hold the cure? What does Anne Rice have to say on this subject? Can Boo Dudes provide these answers?

Elon Musk (the band, not the Paypal co-founder turned Space explorer) describes themselves as “exploring the cosmic frequencies… a space cruise through fuzz and phase.” There is little additional flair that one could add to that summary that would be at all necessary. They nailed it.

On their latest release, entitled .​.​.​As Your Wanderer Taps At The Invisible Gate, the band embarks on a sprawling 37-minute single-track journey. On the face of it, you’d call it Post-Rock; ebbing and flowing through quiet moments that eventually give way to large outbursts. However, that’s a broad stroke that undersells the enjoyable details. The aforementioned fuzz and phase is ever present, combined with warbling distortion, droning bass and pounding drums that are offset by empty voids of delicate entropy. The four movements of the record work well as a cohesive piece but are careful to introduce new elements and styles so the listener isn’t lulled into a repetitive place.

The Bandcamp tab has been sitting open in my browser since the albums release in mid-March of 2020 as it’s not an album you want to hear just once. It’s also accompanied by a full album video “edited together from mostly Stan Brakhage/Terrence Malick Films” – serving as a wonderful visual companion to jaunt across the cosmic frequencies.

The bands record release show at The 5 Spot was cancelled due to viral concerns. Hopefully once we return to some normalcy with live shows in venues again, they can rebook as it’d be a shame not to see this live. In the meantime, turn down the lights, turn on the visual album and go forth.