Nightmare City by Uniform

Rarely can a record be taken at face value. Although the finished product stands as a culmination of cohesive sounds, the individual threads that weave songs together often provide necessary nuance and exposition all of their own. Each isolated stem might be part of a greater story, but the whole cannot stand as intended without a complex series of seemingly disparate elements.

Throughout our existence, Uniform has never particularly cared for genre exercises. We thrive in a constant state of reinvention, making whatever kind of music we feel like making at any given moment. Some records lean into electronic and industrial tropes, while others borrow heavily from punk, metal, and avant-garde rock. This freewheeling spirit of creative liberty is what keeps the band together. If Uniform were bent on following a template, we’d get bored. The second we get bored, we cease to exist.

The creation of the American Standard album has absorbed several years of our collective life. We started writing it in early 2022, tracked most of the instrumentals in the Spring of 2023, and didn’t finish editing the final product until the dead of Winter of 2024. In many ways, it stands as the most organic record that we’ve ever made. Given that the core of the band is two drums, bass, guitar, and vocals, those are the elements highlighted in the final mix. However, stripping those elements away reveals an entirely different collection of songs.

A companion piece to American Standard, Nightmare City is essentially the same record devoid of the rock elements. By removing the presence of traditional instruments, the synths, lap steel, and pianos that sit beneath the surface of the proper album are allowed room to breathe and speak for themselves. The end result straddles the worlds of Basic Channel influenced dub, Tangerine Dream inspired soundscapes, and brutal death industrial.

The bedrock of American Standard stands upon the Nightmare City. It’s not the happiest of all places, but understanding the landscape yields its own rewards. We hope you enjoy your stay.

Through an industrialized mill of grating guitars, warped electronics, war-torn percussion, & demonically catchy vocals, Uniform have bulldozed a path to the forefront of underground music. Michael Berdan (vocals, synths), Ben Greenberg (guitar, production), & Mike Sharp (drums) solidify their place as purveyors of industrial noise and champions of, & victors in, pushing boundaries.