Band of the Week: Aamir al-Loki

Well, Band of the Week has been rather MIA the last few weeks. My bad. But it's back now - happy times all round! This week we have the lovely Aamir al-Loki, a solo project by a lovely lass I bumped into online.

Aamir al-Loki is a self-described goth-pop musician. Personally, I think there's more of an electronic rock influence than pop, but I can see the gothic tendencies - subject matter, tone and overall feel. I first checked her out some time last year when I asked for suggestions of new music on deviantART.com. I can't say I was all that enthralled at the time, but then I did just skim through the tracks available without really properly listening. I was also slightly put off by the somewhat silly artist bio. Then last week I was asked by the artist if I'd write a review of her new album, Kill Your Demons. Well, I needed some music to review for the group I run on dA, so I figured I'd have a look. This time I listened properly (you kinda have to when you're reviewing) and I fell in love. I downloaded the album within a couple of minutes of hearing the 30 second preview snippets, stuck it on repeat all day and the next day pumped out a glowing review. Said review has now been tweaked because no one wants to read my gushing about how brilliant it is. It is brilliant though.

That done, I had to download the debut album, It's Easier In The Afterlife. That's now going through it's fifth rotation since I bought it yesterday afternoon. I'm as much in love with that as I am with the new album. Now, instead of gushing some more about her brilliance, I'm going to attempt to explain why Aamir al-Loki is worth spending your money on.

Firstly, she has a voice which I would personally rate as one of the best I've heard recently. It puts me in mind somewhat of Emilie Autumn (who just happens to be my favourite musician EVER) - beautifully ethereal in parts and yet capable of turning harsh within seconds. The music reflects this, with hard electronic beats powering the tracks along underneath sometimes exotic sounding instrumentation. This is why I'm more inclined to label it electronic rock than goth-pop. Or maybe electro-goth. Can you have electro-goth or have I just made that up? Whatever.

I also love that there's so many little influences showing up. There's an instrumental track on Kill Your Demons called How To (Properly) Utilize Your Newfound Immortality. My first thought on hearing it was "this sounds like it's come out of the 80's". It's a lovely little chunk of synth-pop. I should have expected it really - I know she loves Tubeway Army.

What else to say? I love her. She's awesome. Go download her music now - (Kill Your Demons) (It's Easier In The Afterlife). Or if you're of the CD buying kind (which I would be if I had a CD drive, grr), and you live in the US, you can buy a physical copy of Kill Your Demons here. Check it out, let me know what you think and pass it on.

Assorted Aamir al-Loki links:
Myspace
Ourstage
Youtube

Recommended tracks:
From It's Easier In The Afterlife: My God, Guillotine, Myopia, It's Easier In The Afterlife, Let's Start A Cult
From Kill Your Demons: How To (Properly) Utilize Your Newfound Immortality, John 3:16, Romans, Khuda ke Bacchey, Kill Your Demons