DOOMSQUAD

Doomsquad took the opposite stage shortly after, and slowly, with drones carrying them forward, eased into a set that included songs from the new LP, their EPs and a couple new pieces. "We're just going to ride this vibe all night," Trevor said after a few songs, reasserting the after-hours party feel of the show. With him in the middle playing guitar and samplers, flanked by his sisters on electronics and, occasionally, flute and egg shaker, the trio bobbed and swayed through one hypnotizing song after another. That word, "hypnotizing," is not used lightly; Doomsquad's minimal beats and howling, ritualistic vocals are dreamlike and trance-inducing, broken only occasionally by a sudden change in rhythm or, as on "Waka," Trevor's screams.

For all their decorum, Doomsquad are not a flashy band, and that's where their talent shines through: they compose simple, repetitive songs that seem much more complex than they are. Where a lesser band would make forgettable dark dance jams, Doomsquad open up a whole universe with every song.

They stretched out live staples like "Ovoo" and "Disremember/Dismemberment" well beyond their running time on the album, showing they are most comfortable when in the act of creating. This is one of the reasons why Doomsquad's previous EPs were frustrating for fans: they were good, but didn't properly capture the band's live shows or their ability to make music in the moment.

Their revelatory new LP comes closer to achieving this than anything they have released so far, and it deserves widespread listening and appreciation, but it's still just an entry point to Doomsquad's immense talent. Last night reasserted the vitality of their live shows and proved, once again, that Doomsquad are among the best performers in Canadian indie. - Exclaim! Magazine

2. Doomsquad, Kalaboogie (Hand Drawn Dracula). I’m far too old to consume strong hallucinogens on a school night anymore, but the mood-altering release party for Doomsquad’s debut full-length, Kalaboogie, at the Comfort Zone on Thursday night would have been a fine place to relapse. Not that one really needs the drugs. Even without the dazzling projections and intense volume of this Montreal/Toronto sibling act’s live show, Doomsquad’s dark, dense and disorienting electro-spookiness works on you like you’ve eaten acid for breakfast. Allie, Jaclyn and Trevor Blumas make music for their own planet, a grim, pseudotribal cacophony of half-heard chants, rigid storm trooper beats and synapse-tweaking sonic trickery that’s quite unlike anything else coming out of Canada right now. Kalaboogie takes in everything from barrelling digi-punk (“Head Spirit (For Our Mechanical Time)”) to ominous industrial (“Eternal Return”) to mystical dub (“Ovoo”) before its done — not to mention a robotic 4/4 stomp the size of Daft Punk’s “Da Funk” on the unhinged “Waka Waka” — which makes it tough to pin Doomsquad to a single sound, but it’s all equally thrilling and original. Another early candidate for “best of 2014.” Stream here. - Toronto Star

Doomsquad siblings Trevor, Jaclyn, and Allie Blumas compiled the following multimedia playlist, ahead of their Kalaboogie album for Hand Drawn Dracula / No Pain in Pop.

Our relationship to music has always been a physical one. Perhaps that came from growing up in a household with a drummer dad who would pound away at his kit for hours on end in the basement. (We’re kinda making him sound like a Neil Peart/mad scientist crossbreed, but he’s really not . . . I don’t think) Because of that though, we kinda just came to feel music as opposed to solely listen to it. We felt the beat on a corporeal level pulse into our bodies from the floor below. That same physical sensation we experienced then still sticks with us as we construct our own musical voices.

The people and videos below however once again changed everything for us, because through them, we realized you didn’t just need a heavy beat to feel the music, and in fact, the music didn’t even need to be external at all. These performers showed us how you could lock into a spiritual entrainment with your body and use it as an instrument to conjure up the most mind-boggling sounds, tones and voices. I’m mean, we wanted to know who or what the fuck they were all channeling? Something otherworldly? Or something very, very terrestrial? Either way, it's pretty wild stuff.

Most of these video clips are of singers, physical singers, who really show the instrumental potency of the body in relationship to its voice. They revealed to us the infinite qualities and characteristics you could draw from by just plugging into your own fleshy analog processor (ya, that sounds a bit gross). But this really changed everything for us, as we plunged head first into the psychedelic mind space of the electro-sphere of digital instruments and samples. We realized we didn’t have to continue to purchase new sampler packs, and spend hours layering or EQing that perfect sub kick in order to create a type of music that is really felt. We just had to look within ourselves . . . deep, eh? Now that’s your moral lesson for today. DIG OR DIE. - Impose Magazine

The words "dark new age" don't necessarily make me want to listen to something—and the same probably goes for you. Those three words put together immediately make me think of those annoying people who think that their (pretentious) Music Taste is so good that it deserves capital letters. But lucky for you, it's our job here at Noisey to sift through the pretense and discover music actually rules. Enter Doomsquad, a Toronto-based trio that will have you chanting catchy inaudible lyrics for the rest of the day. Below, we're premeiring "Disremember/Dismemberment," a swirling, haunting track that feels like October. - Noisey (VICE)

What would you expect from a band called Doomsquad? If you’re guessing a sound driven by darkness that alternately flirts with the ethereal and the menacing, with no regard for conventional song structures, you’re right. Siblings Allie, Jaclyn, and Trevor Blumas split their time between Toronto and Montreal, and they’re getting ready to release their debut album Kalaboogie. Out February 25 on Hand Drawn Dracula/No Pain In Pop, it’s loaded with entrancing, danceable rhythms packaged in unexpected ways. It may be a challenging listen, but the vibe is undeniable.
Here’s Doomsquad’s new single, “Waka Waka.” The track kicks off with a thrilling sense of foreboding before heated guitars blast through the synth haze, paving the way for the track to go totally unhinged. Things get reeled back in for a psychedelic stomp that takes the song to completion. The video, directed by Ghostprom, is sure to take off in the illuminati goth sector of Tumblr, which should not be construed as anything other than a compliment. Reflecting the band’s dark side and sense of humor, the clip also includes a phone number that you can call to receive a free download of the track. - BlackBook Magazine

To describe their bewitching, Owen Pallett-endorsed new age, Canadian siblings Doomsquad coined the neogenre “Shaman Beat”. Unsurprisingly, quick listens uncloak an odyssey as twilit and ceremonious as Halloween in Twin Peaks – check their undulating Karen Gwyer remix for an entry point. But on debut LP Kalaboogie (out February 25 on Hand Drawn Dracula/No Pain in Pop), the Montreal/Toronto trio take care to temper surrealism with folky, multicultural undercurrents. Plotting concepts online before midwifing them in person, the group weave the aboriginal music of their North Canadian upbringing into the visionary sounds of Gang Gang Dance, Fever Ray and Gazelle Twin. Subtly entrancing and sulphurous, Kalaboogie stretches out like a volcanic winter, soaring over DoomSquad’s native Canadian wilds and effortlessly outpacing the long shadow of Neil Young and Joni Mitchell. Stream it exclusively via Dazed below. - Dazed & Confused

‘If there was one act I was looking forward to seeing during Iceland Airwaves it was Canadian act Doomsquad. I had their Bella Union album “Total Time” on repeat for weeks before I got to Iceland. Getting to the venue Hurra nice and early then I snag myself a spot to the front right of the stage. The band which formed in 2010 and consists of siblings Allie, Trevor and Jaclyn Blumas plus the Hasko twins, Josh and Jesse, are only playing one show during the entire festival and there’s no way I’m missing it. The five piece take to the stage at half past midnight and by 12.31 my mind has been blown to smithereens. Featuring drums, extra live percussion, guitars and a very large array of synths Doomsquad hit the gas from the off with an astounding palette of sounds that take in everything from world music to electro to psychedelia and everything in between. It’s almost as if Swedish band Goat had their guitars taken away and were locked in a room with just a few synths and a sheet of blotter acid. “It’s The Nail That Counts, Not The Rope” which reminds me of Finnish band K-X-P is a highlight with it’s 4/4 beat, ascending bassline and trance like invocations. By the time they depart the stage I’m left gobsmacked. I doubt a word in the English language exists to describe how good they are. Fan for life right here.’ - Louder Than War