Hailing from Barcelona, Dame Area has left audiences speechless and breathless all around Europe and America playing around 300 shows and generating a consensus: they are one of the best live acts of the moment.
They have played festivals such as Atonal, CTM, Nuits Sonores, Grauzone, Dour, Fusion or Eurosonic legendary clubs like Berghain,Tresor, Apolo or recentlya session at famed KEXP in Seattle, leaving the lasting impression that few electronic acts are as direct and in-your-face as this Catalan/Italian duo.
It's only with their last LP "Toda la verdad sobre Dame Area", released on Mannequin Records, that they have captured the energy of their live show. It has been ranked as2nd best rock album of 2024 on Pitchfork, named"record of the week" by the Quietus and put in rotation at BBC6 radio. An industrial affair, which combines the percussions of Einstürzende Neubauten, flamenco polyrythms and the electronics of Esplendor Geometrico or Suicide.
But it's their sense of dynamics that sets them apart from any band from the industrial scene, as theyhave more in common with the experimental rock of Sonic Youth than any electronic project, while the structures hint at the avant-garde innovations of Coil.
They are an eclectic, discerning form of contemporary industrial music, deploying compulsive minimal synth and primal polyrhythms, as well as uniquely reconstrued elements of post-punk & EBM. An artistic identity that embraces influence yet eschews compromise, changing flavors, but not essence, from release to release.
They have released in excellent forward thinking labels like Mannequin Records, BFE, Kess Kill or their own imprint Màgia Roja (described by The Quietus as "Spain's most extreme and most important label-slash-venue").
PRESS
"Blending noise and techno, the pair are determined to make dance music more than a 'functional, metronomic thing' - and to never play the same set twice" (The Guardian)
"Pulling from the ethos of bands like Suicide, Throbbing Gristle and Einstürzende Neubauten, there's a feeling of urgency, that their performances could break apart at any moment. Their songs draw attention to the performers following their noses. Hearing them bend and stretch a song across its runtime is thrilling." (The Quietus album of the week)
"Post-industrial duo Dame Area capture the spirit of Spain's experimental scene [...] Records like Ondas Tribales have much to give beyond the four walls of a venue: it's thrilling and life-affirming" (Bandcamp Daily feature about Dame Area)
"There's something tribal, almost shamanic about their sound, like a collective trance you can't escape. [...] The link with Rosalía, though indirect, seems apt. Dame Area, like their Catalan compatriot, explore traditions while reinventing them. Where Rosalía plays with flamenco, Dame Area take on EBM with a sensibility that is unique to Barcelona, a city that is both historic and ultra-modern. They don't just reproduce the sounds of the past, they reshape and twist them into something new and resolutely contemporary." (Review on La Route du Rock 2024, Sound of Violence)
"The revelation of the European underground scene in recent years" (PANM360 Magazine, Montreal)
"Silvia Kostance and Viktor L. Crux have carved out their own particular niche in the realms of industrial music as Dame Area, garnering a reputation for unpredictability and raw intensity, often referred to "Música de lucha" ("combat music"). (Regen magazine)