Back in January — which feels like a lifetime ago and a whole other world away — Los Angeles duo CONTRACULT Collective announced their arrival with two revelatory singles, the original song “Hogtied” and an electrofied take on Hole’s 1993 alt-rock standard “Violet.” In February, the band, comprised of core members Svart and Culprit, made more waves, playing their first show ever, opening for blackened synthwave leaders GosT at L.A.’s The Echo. The current industrial-rock revival — see Youth Code, 3TEETH, HIDE, Boy Harsher and more — had major new contenders, ones that draw on classic roots while pulling in modern, metallic elements. Signed to rock and metal stronghold Roadrunner Records, the insurgent duo clearly follow in the bootprints of genre champions such as Nine Inch Nails (circa the early Nineties), Ministry, My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult and the rest of the Wax Trax! roster.
Those influences come to the fore once again on the group’s take-no-prisoners new single “WDYT,” which arrived today (April 24th) paired with a DIY music video filmed by the band members themselves while in quarantine, with the footage edited together by Manuel Casanova. The result is a compelling testament to our troubled times.
“With the concept of the song meeting the state everyone was thrown into during this pandemic, we were able to channel a vision to present in this video easily,” the band comments of the clip. “To make this, we just used our cell phones and general frustration to snapshot our experience in this unfortunate time in history.” Watch and listen below.
