Based out of Nijmegen in the Netherlands, the heavy rocking four-piece Shaking Godspeed released their last full-length on Drakkar Records in 2013. Hoera and Awe combined two prior releases — Hoera and Awe, go figure — into one double-album that was a solid listen and emphasized the quality of songwriting in Shaking Godspeed‘s approach, but might’ve been a bit much for listeners just getting on board. Their current single, the Future Boogie b/w Tombstone Talk 7″ on Suburban Records, pressed in cardboard sleeves with hand-screened logos on the cover, makes for a much more gradual introduction.

The song reportedly (and by that I mean according to the band and I don’t think they’d lie about this kind of thing) deals with themes of technology and the seemingly inevitable advent of artificial intelligence. Presumably that’s what the young lady in the video is running from and is eventually overtaken by, her eyes going black as she becomes a hybrid android/human. Fair enough. “Future Boogie” will feature on Shaking Godspeed‘s forthcoming long-player, Welcome Back Wolf, which is set to release this fall, and the single will be officially released on May 10. Preorder link and more info follows the clip below.

Enjoy:

Shaking Godspeed, “Future Boogie” official video

Future Boogie is available as a 7” vinyl single via Suburban: http://tinyurl.com/nha7mul

The song is also featured on the forthcoming album Welcome Back Wolf by Shaking Godspeed. To be released September 2014.

Heavily inspired by The singularity is near (Ray Kurzweil) they wrote the song Future Boogie. This book sketches the end of the human race as we know it and the birth of the hybrid technologic new human being in 2045. No sci-fi, but soon to be reality!

Fascinated by all the new technological and cultural developments the group understood that keep hanging in the past, old heroes and rusty opinions are almost an insult to their brains. Their new album Welcome Back Wolf, recorded live in a deserted factory, provides ground to Shaking Godspeed’s own slightly deranged views and sincere emotions.

Shaking Godspeed’s website

Shaking Godspeed on Thee Facebooks

Shaking Godspeed on Twitter

It’s somehow fitting to end this Buried Treasure series on Dutch rockers Astrosoniq‘s discography with the album that was recommended in the first place. Not just because I’m a jackass who bought Soundgrenade when it should have been Speeder People and now I’m trying to make it seem like it’s all worked out anyway — because I know I most definitely am that jackass — but also for Speeder People‘s direct continuity with the latest Astrosoniq full-length, Quadrant (review here), which initially inspired me to check out the band’s other releases.

But although I’d say it’s worked out pretty well in the end, it was definitely a long road to get here. From Soundgrenade, back to the 2000 Son of A.P. Lady debut, jumping ahead to 2005’s Made in Oss, and interviewing drummer Marcel van de Vondervoort last month, it’s been an awful lot of Astrosoniq around these parts. The funny thing about it: the more I listen, the less I feel like I know. Don’t get me wrong, after listening to the entire full-length catalog multiple times over, I’d call myself familiar with the band’s work for sure, and a fan, but there’s still a lot to learn here.

Speeder People genre hops with unsettling ease. From the dark lounge and female guest vocals of “Lonely Woman” toward the 70-minute release’s midsection to the sci-fi samples spread throughout, the spaced-out feel of “Orbital Relay,” the swing in “Lipstick Traces,” the goofball country guitar of “Hot Chick” (which, unlike the preceding “Rocket Science,” isn’t actually about a hot chick), and the speed-metal-into-funk and winding tones of closer “Quadrant EL 6500/It’s Monster Surfin’ Time” that show up on Quadrant opener “Faustian Bargain,” there is at least one fuckload — maybe two fuckloads — of ideas to digest on Speeder People. I’ll definitely pass the recommendation on that came to me from reader Mathieu gave to me, but man, if you’re going to tackle this album, you’ve got your work cut out for you.

Three track titles end in exclamation points — “Cold Hearted Guys, Like Us, Like it Loud!” “Godeater!” and “Red ‘Uns Go Fasta!” — which only adds to the charm, and in comparing Speeder People to the rest of the Astrosoniq catalog, I’d say it solidifies some of the weirdo elements of Made in Oss and sets up the refinement process that pays off on Quadrant, at once fitting well between the two and having no shortage of appeal on its own. The samples sprinkled throughout, varied as they are, do a lot to tie the songs together, though to be perfectly honest, by now I don’t blink twice when one track has a different sound than the next. That’s just what Astrosoniq does, and they’re ridiculously good at it.

And that, I suppose, is what I’ve learned more than anything else while exploring their catalog. Rampant experimentation? A seemingly endless creative drive offset by thick heavy rock grooves? Well, that’s just Astrosoniq being Astrosoniq. They did it on the first album, and they’ve only gotten better at it since. If you’re looking for a place to start, I’d say go with Quadrant, the latest album, and work your way back. Wherever you pick up the thread, though, what you should understand is that the brilliant turns you’re hearing didn’t happen overnight. They’ve been there all along. Keep that in mind and your adventure can only get better.

[Special thanks to Astrosoniq manager Bidi for sending me Speeder People. It was the perfect way to end this series.]

I have to admit, I’ve screwed this one all up. What I should have done that first drunken night when I was placing my order was go back to the original recommendation in the comments of my Astrosoniq, Quadrant, review and started working my way back from 2006’s Speeder People. At least that way, my understanding of the band’s progression would make some temporal sense. As it is, I’ve started with the latest album, then heard the second, then the first, and now the third — 2005’s Made in Oss.

The learning process seems endless, though, because even though by now I’ve interviewed drummer Marcel Van de Vondervoort about the growth over the band over the course of their 12 years together, I’m still just now finding out that Made in Oss, which has a total five tracks, isn’t an EP at all as I first thought when I bought it and a requisite couple other goodies off Amazon, but instead a 46-minute full-length album. Boy, is my face dumb.

Not only that, but it’s just about the most experimental release I’ve heard from Astrosoniq yet. Some familiar elements are there: the samples (the Wonder Woman ones spread over the last couple tracks are second in my heart only to “Hey, wanna hear the most annoying sound in the world?” from Dumb and Dumber, which starts “Soul Searcher”), the riffy rock, the gruff, post-Garcia vocals. But the bluesy guitar work that makes up most of 11-minute closer “The Secret of the Magic Tiara” — also listed on the album as “The Magic of the Secret Tiara” — was a complete surprise, and an overwhelmingly pleasant one.

And as it was the final track, it was also nowhere near the first part of Made in Oss to catch me off guard. Right from the start of “Black Chasm,” Astrosoniq‘s goal seemed to be to defy the formula they’d established on their previous two albums, 2002’s Soundgrenade and 2000’s Son of A.P. Lady. It’s a fascinating turn, because now that I’ve heard this, I’d say Quadrant — discovering the stylistic origins of which has been the impetus for this whole exploration — has more in common with the first two records than it does with Made in Oss.

What does this mean? Well, it means I’m all the more nerdily excited about getting my grubby mitts on 2006’s Speeder People, for one thing. It also means that, as we round out this Recommended Buried Treasure series in the next and final installment, there are still questions unanswered about the direction Astrosoniq have taken over the course of their career! That’s fucking awesome. Perhaps geeky glee isn’t the easiest of emotions to carry across in type (though blogging seems to have been built specifically for that purpose, so maybe it’s just me), but I couldn’t be more stoked to dig into Speeder People and finally get to the root of why it was the album recommended in the first place.

To be concluded…