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Spike Hellis is the brainchild of Cortland Dévon Gibson and Elaine Chang. Formed just 8 months back, the duo have swept LA’s underground with their shocking live show that’ll make you sweat. While gearing up to begin touring and promoting their debut EP Crisis Talk in March, they watched in disbelief as themes from their album seeped into reality in the form of a widespread global pandemic. Instead of playing a release show, they pulled the tape out from their couch while under lockdown in their Downtown Los Angeles studio apartment. With tour abruptly cancelled, they got started right away on their forthcoming EP.
Smile for the World is part two of three EPs to be released this year. Crisis Talk spoke to a wider narrative of humankind acting out of self-interest and contributing to an inevitable doomsday scenario; Smile for the World does not veer far from that path. On round two, Gibson and Chang have simultaneously pulled the lens down to a more personal level. Addiction is a major driving force behind their dedication to music. Their daily commute to their studio in Skid Row is a sobering reminder of both the injustices in our society and where things can lead if you don’t take care. Hard facts turned into hard beats.
Incorporating a wide range of elements from industrial, new beat, techno, to freestyle, electro and EBM, Spike Hellis’s dark, experimental pop is sure to make you move to the pain. It wouldn’t be EBM if the overtones of manipulation, submission and suffering weren’t prominent and here they certainly are. However, one of the many things that separates Spike Hellis from their contemporaries is their clever sampling and sound design. Crisis Talk was built around the harsh oscillators of a Moog. Smile for the World centers around the SH-101—shifting from pummeling, detuned basslines to arpeggiated loops carefully modulated and infectiously syncopated to caustic rhythms. Their sequences are dynamically crafted and move effortlessly between all hard-dance subgenres. Their musical catalogue is growing rapidly, with tracks already remixed by certified veterans Susan Subtract (High-Functioning Flesh, Physical Wash), Juan Mendez (Silent Servant) and Multiple Man.
Smile for the World sees its release via Dream Recordings on August 7. All digital proceeds from the EP will go to Solutions Not Punishment Collaborative – SNaP Co. To pre-order go here. To keep up Spike Hellis, follow them on Instagram here.
