Joe Cardamone Shares 'Holy War' Mixtape

Joe Cardamone has shared the 'Holy War' mixtape.

The release follows up the Icarus Line frontman's solo single New Cross, which he put out late last year. Discussing the collection, which forms part of his 'Holy War Collection', which includes films as well as music, he said:

"The Holy War Collection started as a thing to do late at night years ago to keep my mind occupied. I don't play video games or have many hobbies so I make beats while everyone is asleep. Alone in the laundry room with an MPC and headphones. Sometimes doing more than 4 a night. When my group dissolved a few years ago due a few reasons, most notably Alvin’s health, I decided to bring them into the studio.

I think it was the day after Bowie died that I first sang on one of them. I had been trying to locate a space in music that made sense for me in current time. Guitars and band format all felt like going backwards which to me is a sinking feeling. I remember at the time thinking that it was exciting to sing on instrumentals that were created purely for personal fun. I've always been a punk type artist but the trappings of that genre had caught up with me. The rock band genre became burnt over the last decade so to look forward I looked backwards.

All my favorite artists had been inspired by contemporary black music of their time. Elvis, Young Americans era Bowie, The Stooges, Nick Cave...all these acts had been heavily affected by their black counterpoints. This influence, to me, is what the best rock n roll music formed out of. Holy War has a lot of that in it. I have been immersed in this music for years but it was never really a touchstone in a band format. How could it be? So while bands increasingly bored me, I turned to the type of records that got played in my car. Gucci or Ye or Playboi Carti or Frank or whatever.

I guess the day I decided to take this project a little more seriously was long after I had already begun to form its building blocks. It went from 300 beats to 50 songs to a smaller selection of songs that have been readied for release. 2 years in the making. While I worked with my engineer Michael Musmanno we saw something happening that was really exciting to us both. A new sound that didn't deviate from the core truth of who I am as person. It wasn't a labored concept it just happened naturally out of making shit that put a smile on our faces. While making the music it also became clear that music alone wouldn't be the most complete way to paint this picture so I began to make films to build a visual language around the concept.

The first Holy War film was shot during the production of this record and the second installment a much longer player was finished in tandem with the mixing of the records. The visual component is as essential as the audio. The two began to inform each other to build something emotionally rich and deep. I have never made disposable records because all of my favorite records unfold a little more each time I hear them. That mindset has infected the way I do art. While they may seem difficult to certain ears upon first listen they subsequently reward on repeated listen because the tracks change on you and tell you about you life a little more each time. We had a lot of fun making this material even though a lot of the subject matter is life and death. If you don't laugh you'll cry."

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