Blow

The Blow formed as an electro-pop duo consisting of Khaela Maricich and Melissa Dyne. Prior to that partnership, Maricich issued material under the solo alias Get the Hell Out of the Way of the Volcano, later shifting to recordings issued by K under the Blow name, assisted by various guests; that phase opened with the 2002 release Bonus Album and continued with The Concussive Caress, or, Casey Caught Her Mom Singing Along with the Vacuum two years later. Several projects then emerged from her work alongside Jona Bechtolt, among them the limited-edition EP Poor Aim: Love Songs in 2004, followed in 2005 by Everyday Examples of Humans Facing Straight Into the Blow, an album that incorporated earlier tracks originally credited to the Volcano project, and Paper Television the next year. Once Bechtolt turned his attention to his own outfit YACHT, Maricich joined forces in 2007 with sound and installation artist Dyne; the pair moved to Brooklyn the following year. Recording sessions for a fourth album began in 2011 and yielded The Blow upon its September 2013 release. Shortly afterward, Maricich and Dyne pursued a more hardware-driven, live-performance-oriented style of electronic music, expanding their setup with modular synths and vintage samplers while also launching the WOMANPRODUCER initiative, an effort that highlights women, trans, and non-binary artists who self-produce through an archive, panels, interviews, and live events. Their fifth album, Brand New Abyss, arrived in 2017 after being recorded and self-produced across their Brooklyn apartment and additional sites throughout the U.S. Northeast.