Watch Massa Nera's video for their screamo/deep house song "Shapeshift"
In December, NJ screamo band Massa Nera released their great new album Derramar | Querer | Borrar on Zegema Beach Records. It’s an intense, overwhelming album that puts a fresh spin on ’90s-style screamo, and one of its songs, “Shapeshift,” interjects all the screamo with a lengthy deep house section. Today, that song gets a video.
“With this video, we were hoping to emphasize the hauntological side of our album,” the band tells us. “The dance footage comes from various documentaries about rave culture filmed in the ’90s / early ’00s. I’m not an expert on rave culture, obviously, but I think there’s a sense that the onset of rave was seen by some as the advent of a new social movement. There was a utopianism to it, this sense that collective transcendence was possible. Obviously, that didn’t come to pass, and what we’re left with are these records of that unfulfilled potential. Sometimes I feel the same way about underground punk/screamo/whatever culture, although my hope is that its potential as a catalyst for sociopolitical change just hasn’t been realized yet. I like to think the future isn’t set. But if it is, and we’re merely replicating past modes of expression minus the revolutionary potential, maybe the performance footage at the beginning of the video is just as much of an artifact as the rave footage (hence the pvm monitor).”
“Ideally, in paring these visuals with this song, our intent will be a bit more obvious,” they continue. “The electronic section of ‘Shapeshift’ is not an interlude. Rather, it’s vital to the thematic thrust of the album. It’s the last dance before we all return to work.” The video makes its premiere below.
Massa Nera also have a bunch of shows coming up, including one in Glassboro, NJ tonight (1/27) with Silithyst, Trustfall, and Snowman Fight; and they’ve also got a New Brunswick show on 2/18 with Entierralos, Pyre, and Who Put Bella in the Witch Elm. All dates are listed below.
Massa Nera — 2023 Tour Dates
01/27 – Glassboro, NJ (Tune Lagoo) w/ Silithyst, Trustfall, and Snowman Fight
01/29 – Philadelphia, PA (Cousin Danny’s) w/ Sonagi and A Paramount, A Love Supreme
02/03 – Harrisonburg, VA (Crayola House) w/ 3Peace, Donald Shimoda, and Elastictone
02/04 – Greenville, NC (Players Retreat) w/ Rotting in Dirt and Clout Funeral
02/05 – Charleston, SC (Await further Instructions) w/ To Forget and Pez
02/06 – Jacksonville, FL (Binky’s) w/ Tiny Silver Hammers and Exaltarist
02/07 – Orlando, FL (Will’s Pub) w/ 430 Steps, Burial Joy, and Echo Beauty Terror
02/08 – Savannah, GA (The Chop Shop) w/ You Once Were, Less Dead, and Aethereater
02/09 – Ashville, NC (The Odd) w/ Serrate, Night Beers, and Loss of Consciousness
02/10 – Richmond, VA (Fuzzy Cactus) with .gif from god, Terror Cell, and Armagideon Time
02/11 – Baltimore, MD (Secret Beach) w/ Eyelet, Gasket, and Larry’s
02/12 – Newark, DE (The Temple) w/ A Paramount, A Love Supreme and more tba
02/18 – New Brunswick, NJ (Shitshow) w/ Entierralos, Pyre, and Who Put Bella in the Witch Elm)
