Just over a month ago we helped usher in the gnarliest spook-season special of the year with Skin Graft Record’s Sounds to Make You Shudder compilation. One of the record’s most evergreen tracks was Upright Forms and their rousing but danceable “They Kept on Living.”
For some of us, Halloween lasts all year, and today we get an exclusive look at the track’s video, a blended mass of live footage, horror-film captures, and superimposed humanoid-from-hell creations. Smash the last of the season’s pumpkins and check out the haunting premier below.
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No matter what time of year it is, in the end it’s just a cool tune. “They Kept on Living” might not mix it up too much, but it does come from credibly skronk-filled pedigree. In fact, when asked about math rock, singer/guitarist Nick Sakes (also of Colossamite, Dazzling Killmen and Sicbay) had this to say:
“I don’t know if Dazzling KIllmen or Colossamite fell into the “math rock” category but I will say from personal listening experience that a whole lot of bands — that were around before I’d ever heard that tag being thrown around — were huge massive giant influences on me! Bands like The Accused, Bad Brains, Offenders, Die Kreuzen (1st album, specifically), and throw in some skronky wonderfulness from the likes of Massacre‘s Killing Time album, Naked City, Bulgarian Mountain Folk and the monumental “Reign in Blood” from Slayer, I suppose it could add up as “math rock”…maybe? Is there anything more math rock than >Hocus Pocus from 70’s legends Focus??? No. So many people figured they had us (DK) summed us up as King Crimson wannabes but that could not be farther from the truth. Maybe The Shaggs is more like it?”
There’s some angular foolin’ around no matter how you slice it with the song’s stringent verses and shouty vocal weirdness. The song’s closer to noise than it is to math, but no matter what you call it, you gotta love a well-mixed organ sound, and you’re gonna find that here in the second half of the song so crack open that cranium and let “They Kept on Living” in.
Definitely check out Sakes’ other stuff, too, there’s a lot to sift through. Also special thanks to Dan Volohov from Discipline PR and Mark Fischer of Skin Graft Records for setting us up. Check out the compilation that includes Upright Forms and many more here, and buy us a hot apple cider thing here. Coming up we’ve got legendary interviews with Yowie and Martin Bisi, not to mention much more. Thanks for reading!