Denver-bred genre-defying Echo Beds are the latest signees to politically-charged emcee and former Anticon founder Tim "sole" Holland's latest label venture, Black Box Tapes. I would likely describe Echo Beds' rather long-winded "overdriventapehissnoisewall- landscapemetaldrumpummelpainfacevolumetherapy" sound of something strangely evocative of what an imagined missing link between late 80's-1990's Industrial Rock forefathers Nine Inch Nails and their critically-acclaimed modern day counterparts, Noise/Aggro-Rap group Death Grips; an obtuse indefinable sound, better yet, self-described by vocalist/bass player Keith Curts and beat-maker Tom Nelson as "a caterwaul of contact-mic'd oil drums, broken cymbals, battered basses, unrecognizable tape loops, and dilapidated voices with the expressed intention of volume as therapy and put it through the grinder of self-practiced D.I.Y. ethos." Echo Beds' latest music video, "SEEK SAFE HAVEN" was premiered at (awesomely titled) Black Metal & Brews earlier this week.


It's an eerily ominous presentation directed by Kim Shively, which seamlessly inter-splices found B-movie Horror footage with what appears to be dimly-lit live performance footage of Echo Beds ripping it up at their Denver rehearsal space. Curts and Nelson are gearing up to unleash their Black Box Tapes debut, NEW ICONS OF A VILE FAITH around April 29-May 1st on cassette and soon thereafter on 12-inch vinyl, which will imminently be pressed and released by Sailor Records. Echo Beds have additionally prepared an opaque red swirl "Licking Wounds" 7-inch limited to a handful of pieces pieces on their own Temporal Decompression imprint and will only be made available for purchase on their upcoming Spring 2016 Tour , a sprawling 21-date cross-country trek which is set to span from May 1-26th. NEW ICONS OF A VILE FAITH is currently available for pre-order at Black Box Tapes' Bandcamp page in either high-quality digital download or a befittingly cassette & T-shirt combo pack , with Sailor Records' 12-inch release only imminent, at this point.


EDITOR'S NOTE: Since initially publishing this piece on 4/13/16, taking it down for a brief period in time, and now, triumphantly re-upping it... Echo Beds have since SOLD OUT of Black Box Tapes-pressed NEW ICONS OF A VILE FAITH cassette tapes (except for what they're taking on tour.) Although, Keith Curts tells me it MAY be re-released on another local Denver imprint, but it's too early to disclose just yet. NEW ICONS OF A VILE FAITH is also nearly sold out on vinyl and about 30 copies remain. Curts said there are currently "a couple handfuls" of "Licking Wounds" 7-inches left on black vinyl and that all colored vinyl is SOLD OUT.