The Copenhagen, Denmark based Experimental ensemble Vs DooM is a collective, diverse, and activist-oriented big band that, on its debut album “Live at Xenon,” calls for resistance against monoculture, puritanism, and the linguistic poverty of ideology through its engaging, imaginative fusion of Afrobeat, Psychedelic Rock and Soul.
Live at Xenon’ is produced by M. Rexen and Mathias Bang Madsen and was released on digital formats October 20, 2023 via acclaimed Danish Experimental label ILK. Now, the album is released on a very special format – on cassette tape with walkman including bluetooth, which is available HERE.
Singer and lyricist Michael Rexen elaborates on this ecclectic edition:
“I just love the sound of tapes. A lot of music still uses tape tech in the production process. It just has a unique sound. So, I wanted people to hear that cool sound. I found some people in China offering a Cassette Walkman with Bluetooth at a reasonable price and good quality. I made a few technical and aesthetic modifications, and BAM! REXTAPE mk1.
Now people can listen to our music on their Bluetooth headphones or speakers! Or maybe in their car? And get that cool tape sound. We also link to other artists releasing on tape. So, you can start your tape collection. I’ve found the most beautiful music in the dumpsters!”
In addition to the walkman cassette release, Vs DooM has just announced a show at Hotel Cecil in Copenhagen on February 23, 2024 – tickets are available HERE.
“Live At Xenon” was recorded live over 3 days on the Xenon stage at Huset i Magstræde in Copenhagen. An hour-long performance created by Ukrainian director Ira Nirsha, involving actors, lighting, and video recording, where the band’s tracks were woven into an absurd musical theater production about illness in the modern world and the absurd ways with which we try to heal. The performance uses tennis, love, and personal liberation as themes to tell the story, all while the band explores the collective process and gets the audience dancing.
From the beginning, Vs DooM has focused on the collective and moved away from individual fixation. Everything was driven by a vision to create a large, inclusive, and colorful orchestra that engages in open communication with the audience, often involving theater, storytelling, and physicality. The collective nature gives Vs DooM a breadth and uniqueness that sets them apart from other Danish bands. Thirteen musicians, a good mix in terms of gender, age, and genre. From the completely inexperienced to the seasoned veterans. Wildly growing in its own way, with elements from both established and Experimental realms.
The lyrics of Vs DooM focus on the way we use language, specifically how religion, ideology, and cultural homogenization steal and exploit our language to brainwash us. The band represents a counter-culture that resonates in all recordings—a shout and advice against puritanism and the white, patriarchal world order. Through its mere existence, music, and lyrics, Vs DooM unfolds an activism against this homogenizing, dumbing-down mass culture through its insistence on collectivism, love, imagination, and human liberation.
Lineup:
Michael Rexen: Vocal; Henry Gibbs: Vocal; Nina Baun: Vocal; Liv Lumia Hurtigkarl: Vocal; Mads Lund Egetoft: Saxofon; Lise Munch: Horn; Mathilde Schelin: Clarinet; Erik Kimestad: Trumpet; Kristian Tangvik: Keyboards; Kristian Haarløv: Guitar; Peter Danstrup: Bass; Rune Lohse: Drums; Sylvester Kallesøe: Percussion
Purchase and Stream the album here: https://orcd.co/qj5kqy2
Tracklist:
- Rune Lude
- 1000 Years
- Nikki (Vs DooM)
- Yolo Pipe
- Sweet Young Psychopaths
- Point of No Return
- Kisses by The Harbour
- Two Lights (Vs DooM)
- Talk Talk (Vs DooM)
- Me and My Friends (Vs DooM)