Valerie Martino, or UNICORN HARD-ON (her long running noisy beat fueled electronic music moniker), is a Providence underground music pillar, a constant of some kind in the worlds of experimental electronic and noise music. These are worlds on the edge, worlds based around a pride of being new, fresh, and rule breaking. Yet there Martino is and has been as UNICORN HARD-ON.
Her music has certainly evolved and grown over the years, but the music she makes as UNICORN HARD-ON has always embodied those aforementioned attributes that her chosen sound areas espouse. With me it is a trust she has built. I can be confident that when new music arrives from her corner of the world, that it is going to be fun, weird, and devoid of any traces of buuuullllshiiiit. A ways back UNICORN HARD-ON released the WEIRD UNIVERSE record on the awesome SPECTRUM SPOOLS label. A candy-coated bouncing ball of static n’ synths, it was one of my favorite records of 2013. And the album is still elevating and inspiring listeners and other artists alike, as 2 recently released videos for tracks from WEIRD UNIVERSE surely attest.
The video for “Night Diamond” comes courtesy of MANDY ROMAN. It goes a more minimalist route showcasing geometric shapes and the human body in motion all to the strains of the more down tempo and ambient, though still propulsive, track.
The vid for “Houndstooth” is more conceptual in nature, an odyssey following two women on a journey through nature as they let go and give in to the ritual, baptismal cleansing by that most fun of the elements, water (in pool form, both natural and mall varieties). TANZ PRAXIS (C. Lavender & LN Foster) created these colorful, eye catching visuals, which meld perfectly with the wave of idiosyncratic techno that this track sets upon the listener. Guy Schaffer also assisted in the making of this video.
UNICORN HARD-ON performs on saturday September 6th as part of the NEW ENGLAND UNDERGROUND MUSIC FEST (NEU MF 14′) @ Cuisine en Locale, and yes, presented by us here @ Boston Hassle. You’ll want to hear what she has in store for us.
