#Genres: Rock / Heavy Metal Hard Rock / Classic Rock / Space Rock

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

UFO - I'm A Loser

[earphone-jacks]

My Hero Academia Class 1-A Music Headcanons

I've been catching up on the manga and thinking a lot about Jiro making a collaborative playlist to help her really connect with her classmates lately. Anyway,

Deku listens to soundtracks, like bombastic instrumentals from old superhero movies, and I like to think he enjoys some fantasy adventures too. He also likes J-rock, including some openings and endings from the anime. He's pretty open to recommendations no matter the genre, but generally prefers more mellow stuff to help him relax and study or just unwind after a long day, and tends to listen to the same small handful of his favourite songs anyway.

Bakugo listens to heavy metal, particularly extreme metal. He loves the blast beat drumming and harsh vocals. A lot of the lyrics are incomprehensible upon listening, but if you took the time to look some of them up, they'd give more insight to his more vulnerable side that he's too prideful to show. I also like the idea of him having a softer private playlist that nobody lives to speak of.

Ochako didn't really seek out new music on her own before high school and formed her taste mostly from the radio or recommendations from friends. She has a lot of fun going through the playlist and she's happy to listen to anything from bubbly J-pop to heavy metal. I think she'd be a big fan of Babymetal.

Iida also likes instrumentals for studying, but more classical, and with faster tempos that he can take his morning runs to as well, like allegro. Something like hardcore techno would be funny, maybe some sport anthems, and a few more mellow rock songs that he picked up from his brother for when he needs to cool down.

Todoroki was very isolated and had a really limited musical library before high school. He'd also just listen to some classical, traditional Japanese music, or whatever was on the radio, if anything at all. He later gravitates to edgy alternative rock, or anything with relatable lyrics that help him vent his emotions. I think he could use that.

Tokoyami likes goth, modern classical, anything mellow, dark and ethereal-sounding with poetic lyrics. His music is oddly calming and haunting at the same time. He doesn't like anything too loud or harsh-sounding, partially because it can excite Dark Shadow too much.

Tsuyu and Koda both listen to cozy movie soundtracks, like from Disney or Ghibli, folk, lo-fi, ambient nature sounds, anything grounding and soothing, or "cottagecore".

Momo listens to classical, traditional pop, or modern music with elements of either, like baroque/chamber pop.

Jiro is already confirmed to have a preference for rock, probably alternative rock, and punk. I'd like to think some metal as well, but she'll listen to almost any genre and has impeccable taste in everything. She was largely influenced by her parents, and maybe grandparents, so her library spans a few decades as well.

Mina and Toru both listen to upbeat J-pop, and I like to think one of them introduced the others to Little Glee Monster. Maybe some sappy or wistful love songs more in private. Mina also likes 70s pop, disco and hip-hop, the kind of music that just compells you to dance and sing at the top of your lungs, maybe some psychedelic space rock and sci-fi horror soundtracks.

Kirishima is also confirmed to like 80s rock, like Eikichi Yazawa and Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi. I'd also think he likes stuff from as far back as the 50/60s as well, since Yazawa is the closest thing to Elvis from Japan that I know of, and that he picks up some more modern hard rock and metal mostly from Bakugo and Tetsutetsu as well.

Kaminari and Mineta both listen to J-pop, mostly from female idols that they think are cute. Besides that, Kaminari likes pop rock/punk and a lot of English music, and seems to have formed a lot of his taste from whatever was popular on the radio or social media with the occasional unexpected banger. He also had a dubstep, Vocaloid and hyperpop phase.

Sero is almost as adventurous as Jiro with music. He has a talent for finding underrated indie bands, and songs in a few different languages as well.

Aoyama also listens to some classical, but more opera, as well as French pop, some disco and house that he can vogue to. It's mostly upbeat but there's some sad-sounding songs in there as well that the others can't translate.

Shoji doesn't have much to contribute, being a minimalist, but he generally likes the more mellow indie stuff. He can get overstimulated easily.

Sato and Ojiro both like upbeat stuff, and enjoy music more as background noise for training, or baking in Sato's case. I also think Sato would enjoy the girls' bubbly pop music, and Ojiro would like some traditional stuff. Idk man they're nothing characters

[elbiotipo]

Current worlds I'm building on my head:

Biopunk South America: where a biotechnology revolution and a worldwide ecocide changed the world forever, set in Buenos Aires in 2143. Six students set to make a grant project that would bring back the spirit of old biopunk. Inspired by Argentine rock and fútbol, hacker culture, and biopunk of course.

Campoestela: A 'classic' space opera setting, humanity has spread across the stars meeting hundreds of other civilizations, the focus here is on the cultural diversity of countless worlds. An Argentine space trucker finds a cringefail gamer girl from an extinct civilization and they try to cope with this. The theme is travelling but not for adventure but to work, like truckers or bush pilots.

The Alchemists: Set in the historical Republic of Florence in 1491, except the supernatural is very, very real. An alchemist and a witch deal with adolescence and their jobs while uncovering the secrets of Hermes Trismegistus (and eventually travel all the way to Egypt, China and beyond). A magical setting but based, as much as I can, in real historical conceptions of 'magic'.

Space Battleship Aurora: During the twilight years of the Space Roman Empire, the crew of a battleship rebel and they join a communist (not metaphorical, literal) revolution, as things fall apart. Basically a retelling of the Russian Civil War but in fantasy space.

METAL LML: This is just a rule of cool setting where everything that happens in Heavy Metal covers (the magazine and the genre) is real. A bunch of badass characters fly on their spaceship fighting hordes of evil demons with the power of METAL. With a found family, if you actually care about plot or stuff like that.

Argentina post-magiapocalíptica: Somewhere in 2012, the world changed and civilization collapsed with the "return" of magic. Argentina is a vast land full of wonders, all based in popular legends from the pre-columbian to current memes. Argentina-core basically. It has a lobizón and bruja characters too.

América Invicta: In this setting, the Inca and Mesoamerica remain unconquered, but they still have to deal with the contact of Europeans. This is a setting where every myth and legend about the Americas is real and then some. It's an excuse to present more Latin American mythology and legend.

The Greatest Scam: A hard (as it can be) sci-fi setting where the Solar System is turned into a dyson sphere to mine bitcoin, and the Socialist Interstellar roams the galaxy, safeguarding what remains of Earth from the ultimate apotheosis of capitalism

Concordia: (or Star Trek: Rebuild) An optimistic atompunk (but realistic) setting where the US and USSR decided to cooperate and do a joint atomic and space program, and things escalate from there. Humanity reaps the benefits of the peaceful Atomic Age, as ATOMIC ROCKETS explore the stars.

If you see me talking about worldbuilding, or reblogging very specific things, it's about some of these. EL BIOTIPO CINEMATIC UNIVERSE.

[explosionshark]

hi! what would u say are starter metal bands/albums/songs for people who have never listened to metal? i'm interested in exploring new genres but i know NOTHING about metal and you seem to know quite a lot!

See I love trying to answer this question but it's honestly a little tricky! The thing that makes metal so great imo is the fact that there's a billion subgenres. But that's also what makes it hard to find the right recommendation for someone off the top of your head! I might send you a metalcore song that does nothing for you, but if I had gone with like. Stoner metal or something you'd have found your niche.

That said I recently made a playlist for a friend asking me the same question. I tried to throw in an array of different styles. Check it out if you have Spotify! Feel free to skip when a song isn't working - there might be something you like more further on

Aside from that, click below for a couple of recommendations for stuff I find to be more accessible/appealing to a broad audience

Sleep Token - here's an alt metal band that's really blowing up right now! They're about to release their third LP. I'd suggest checking out a few of the singles they've already put out for it. This band has been great for attracting new folks to metal: they play with a lot of different genres and while they certainly have heavy moments, I feel like their pop-friendly approach makes them a good band to on board people to the genre.

Invent Animate - this is a metalcore band that also just put out an early contender for Album of the Year imo. There's a mix of harsh and clean vocals, a very atmospheric sound throughout, and a good mix of technically impressive instrumentation and strong hooks. If you like this sound I'd suggest checking out other bands like Spiritbox and Bad Omens.

Lacuna Coil - hey, do you like Evanescence? Do you like beautiful women with incredible singing voices? This band might be for you. I'd recommend their 2002 record Comalies to start, or you can check out their most recent album as well. If you like this sound, you might be interested in checking out bands like Epica or Ad Infinitum next!

Iron Maiden/Judas Priest - interested in a more classic sound? Maiden and Priest were two titans of an era called NWOBHM (the New Wave of British Heavy Metal) - characterized by fast, aggressive music and clean vocals that tend to be on the higher end. I'd highly recommend Number of the Beast for Maiden or Screaming for Vengeance if you want to get into Priest. If you're looking for contemporary bands playing with a similar sound, I'd suggest Sumerlands or Sonja, who both had excellent records last year.

Nu Metal/Alt Metal - sometimes it can be tricky to talk about these genres because people get very passionate and nitpicky about the terms. But generally speaking if you like the sounds that dominated the metal/hard rock charts around the turn of the century you might like the following bands: Kittie, Slipknot, Tallah, Nova Twins

Post-hardcore/metalcore - more into that MCR-ish emo sound? Try Static Dress or If I Die First! Not super heavy, but still with an edge. These are young bands who are again playing in a very 00s space.

Deftones - here's a band that I find pretty accessible! There's definitely a heaviness, but there's also a strong shoegaze influence that creates an opportunity for some really beautiful songs. This band has been active since the 90s, huge catalog of great albums. Start with White Pony. There are a lot of bands right now who are very influenced by Deftones - if you like this band check out Loathe or Moodring next

Stoner/Doom - we're talking about big fuzzy riffs here! Slow/mid-tempo songs usually with a longer song length than more punk-influenced subgenres. Try bands like Windhand, Faetooth, Red Fang, or King Woman

No Harsh Vocals Please - okay, like heavy sounds but don't like the screaming? Check out these bands: Katatonia, Evergrey, Unleash the Archers

There's so much more I could get into but I need to stop eventually. I hope you find something you like somewhere in these recommendations! If you do, feel free to come back to me with what worked for you and I can offer more suggestions along that line.

Happy listening 🤘

[stephantom]

7, 9 and 14 for the songs?

Thank you! :)

You asked for 3 songs but uhhhh I came up with 8. Anyway, they’re behind the cut!

#7. A song that you love from a genre you don’t usually like.

I’m generally not a country music lover, but I appreciate Orville Peck, and the first time someone played this song for me, it just grabbed my whole attention immediately. It’s minimalist and dramatic and raw and captivating, and it queers the original song (which admittedly I’ve never heard) in such a powerful way: “Fancy” by Orville Peck (originally by Reba McEntire). Chills, tbh.

#7 (Not My Genre) Again. Because I can’t choose. “C.R.E.A.M. (Cash Rules Everything Around Me” by Wu-Tang Clan

Idk a lot of hip-hop, but I do know this one’s a classic and I love it. Hypnotic, melancholy, thoughtful, great storytelling, great lines, the piano hook gets stuck in my head all the time.

# 9. A song that makes you want to go on an adventure.

“Paradise Warfare” by Carpenter Brut. This entire synthwave album (“Trilogy”) is excellent and all flows together so singling out any one track is hard, but this one has a lot going on (a sax solo? steel drums? an intense banger of a final section?). It makes me feel like the protagonist of a video game, where I’d uhh like drive a cool car off the top of a skyscraper, pursued by mysterious enemies, then leap into the air and do a sick backflip while lightning flashes. You know?

#9 (Adventure Song) Runner up!

“Carry On” by Hallas. Been obsessed with this band for the past month or so. They’ve got a retro, 70s-inspired prog-rock/proto-metal style, catchy hooks, synth-heavy, with kinda dreamy vocals and lyrics about a space epic they made up; they describe themselves as “adventure rock.” It just makes me feel good!

#9 Last answer for the adventure question, I promise!

For a different kind of adventure, one where you pack a rucksack and put on a cloak and go on a quest with your dearest companions and learn that the power was already inside you all along: “Until the Fires Die” by Fellowship. Opens with the words, “Come with me, I’ll take you on a hero’s journey.” It’s the first track on an album that simultaneously heartfelt and inherently silly, exactly as power metal should be.

#14. A song to sing to the sun. I can’t explain why exactly but it’s “Dream State” by Son Lux.

It’s not about the sun or sunlight (in fact, there’s even a line suggesting the opposite, “Out of the dark day / Into the brighter night”), but it’s got this feeling like something coming from the depths of someone, expressing wonder and yearning, which is probably what I’d express to the sun, or the sky, or the sea, or the mountains. I guess I mean that it’s almost prayerful, in a way? Anyway, it’s a favorite song right now, and I think, an incredible piece of art.

#14 Runners up: “Myth” by Beach House and “Wield Lightning To Split The Sun” by Primordial. For similar reasons — they feel existentially expressive and meditative. The latter is a perfect song to the sun: “And let the lightning split my heart in two / And let me howl at the moon with desire / And stretch my arms wide to embrace the sun.” But “Myth” by Beach House is so beautiful and sad and pensive and hopeful, like watching the sun rise after a long night. “Help me to name it…” Agh it’s so good.

[metalhead-brainrot]

[Album of the day] Tarot - Glimpse Of The Dawn

Tasmania, AUS || 2024 || Heavy Chains Records and Tapes

[Genres] prog rock, proto-metal, occult rock

[Themes] fantasy

[FFO] 70s rock, rock with organ, Phantom Spell

[Thoughts] The third and final 2024.04.12 release I wish to highlight! If you want more music like this, be sure to check out the other offerings from indie label Heavy Chains Records.

o()xxxx[:::::::::::::::::> o()xxxx[:::::::::::::::::> o()xxxx[:::::::::::::::::>

[From the band/label]

Vintage, earthy 1970s hard rock done right from the Land Down Under!

The long-awaited sophomore album from Australia’s Tarot re-imagines heavy, Hammond B3 organ hard rock for a new generation! Eight years have passed since Tarot’s first full-length, Reflections, to their new long-player, Glimpse of the Dawn. It was like a lifetime for the 1970s-rock-tinged Australians. The band embarked on its first-ever live shows after Reflections, essentially coming together as a unit while on stage. Live activity then opened the door for increased collaboration between all members of the band. Now operating as a cohesive, free-flowing outfit, Tarot amassed a lively, spacious album in the form of Glimpse of the Dawn that earnestly pays tribute to their core influences of Uriah Heep, Rainbow and Deep Purple while blazing an identity of its own.

Glimpse of the Dawn was recorded across several studios in the band’s native Tasmania, starting with drum tracking by Joe Haley at Crawlspace Productions. From there, the band retreated to its own Heavy Chains Studio and Riff Cabin to complete tracking, yet it was the face-to-face sessions with Haley that gave the album its live and natural feel. This approach — once an industry standard but now becoming a rarity — found Tarot simply cracking open a few beers, letting the tape roll and letting the results happen as they may. To that end, Tarot purposely left open spaces to allow for improvisation. Many of the album’s lead guitar sections were written on the fly in the studio and were subsequently kept, allowing for Tarot to “catch lightning in a bottle.” This approach is perhaps best exemplified on the title track, which kicks off the album in grand fashion with rollicking Hammond keyboards and vocal trade-offs between founding member Will Spectre, guitarist Felix Russell and keyboardist Dave Harrington-George.

In fact, collaboration defines Glimpse of the Dawn. Whereas Spectre previously shouldered the songwriting load, the album features contributions from all members of Tarot. This communal, open vibe is yet another throwback to the bands Tarot has taken inspiration from. The closeness of all five members allowed for a free exchange of ideas, thus sharpening every facet of the album. It helped further expand Tarot’s sound, which is often driven by the classic Hammond B3 organ, mellotron string and choir and various analog synths. The members of Tarot put an immense of thought into the interplay between Harrington-George’s parts and its guitar lines, ultimately producing an album with equal breadth and depth.

Glimpse of the Dawn is tailor-made for the live arena. Tarot already has plans to hit its Australian homeland and Europe throughout 2024, bringing its hard-rocking, anthemic songs to audiences deserving of a band that perfectly embodies the spirit of 1970s rock.

[musicandtypesofdance]

Metal

It is considered a musical genre that was born in the mid-60's and early 70's in the United Kingdom and the United States, whose origins come from Blues Rock, Hard Rock, Psychedelic Rock and Classical Music. characterized by its strong, distorted guitars, and its emphatic rhythms with sounds denser than usual in the bass and drums.

In Metal there are many subgenres, some very similar and others totally different, so not everyone can easily distinguish them. Each one tries to express something different and in a different way. But all of them, absolutely all of them, were born from the same “mother”: Heavy Metal. In order to understand all the genres that were born from this "mother" you must first understand how she was born. It could be defined as a musical genre evolved from Rock n' Roll, Blues and Hard Rock, characterized by powerful sounds of distorted guitars, pronounced basses, double pedal drums and high voice (generally tenors).

Metal as a musical genre is basically integrated by subgenres such as heavy, speed, thrash, black, Swedish death, American death, gothic, doom, grindcore, goregind, folk metal among others. These genres come from different latitudes and emerged in the last three decades of the 20th century. [6:53 p. m., 27/4/2023] enanano prehistorico: To this day there is no precise consensus that defines what was the first heavy metal band. Some mention Led Zeppelin, while others leave that place exclusively to Black Sabbath. Around that time, many bands arose that, although they did not have the media impact of those mentioned, were also a contribution to the birth of this genre. As for festivals, every day there are more options around the world, since many years ago it was a rare and scarce phenomenon, before the global pandemic situation, thousands of people gathered in the same place every day. space to see and listen to dozens of bands, camp in the open air and enjoy the multiple attractions that each one offered to their attendees and fans.

[truefolktv]

2017 Retrospective: Don't Sleep On These 36 Records

Released: January 27th, 2017 Genres: Indie pop, Indie folk

INFJ - ASHES

Overview: Ashes is a polished exhibition of inviting, homey folk songwriting. The combination of skillful musicianship, clear production, and rich instrumental arrangements makes for an experience on-par with any household name in folk-inspired music. Ashes is a friendly, inviting collection of songs that is sure to please any indie folk fan.  

Released: March 8th, 2017

Genres: R&B, Jazz, Soul

JERK - PINK EP

Overview: Jerk is smooth, cool, and everything you want in an R&B, Jazzhop fusion project. The first in a series of color-themed EPs, Pink is a great introduction to Jerk’s vibey, refined sound. Drown out the noise of your commute, take your coffee shop experience to the next level, or just enhance your life in general with the sweet sounds of Jerk’s Pink & Yellow EPs.

Released: April 1st, 2017 Genres: Hardcore, Metal

TOXIC CREW - PIMP IN DISTRESS

Overview: Pimp in Distress is a sonic gut punch that cuts to the core of what makes heavy music hit so hard. Consisting of just bass, drums, and vocals, I never found myself missing traditional instrumentation because not only is the bass tone so awesome, but the energy from the group is so palpable. What Pimp in Distress captures is the experience of a live show, but with a level of sonic clarity missing from most live productions. If you love hardcore and want to listen to a wonderfully bottled live show experience, then listen to Toxic Crew.

Released: April 10th, 2017 Genres: Folk, Acoustic

SAMANTHA SKLAR – FLORÁ

Overview: Florá features a charming simplicity and solid folk tunes reminiscent of singer songwriters from the 60s and 70s. The interplay of tasteful vocal layers and harmonies with the solo acoustic guitar makes for a warm, vibey aural experience.

Released: May 4th, 2017 Genres: Indie folk, Singer songwriter

KELLY QUIGLEY - WEIGH ON

Overview: Intricate guitar runs, interesting chord progressions, creative percussion arrangements, and soft vocal delivery; each piece of this EP encourages the listener to curl up in these acoustically-driven songs and get lost. Weigh On is an EP in the indie acoustic style that you (likely) already love, with fresh and inspired execution of the singer songwriter genre.

Released: May 12th, 2017 Genres: Singer songwriter, Pop acoustic

CHASE ANDRZEJ

- FIVE LETTERS

Overview: “Five Letters” is extremely anthemic and emotive single from singer songwriter Chase Andrzej. The narrative is a vivid depiction of pain, struggle, and ultimately triumph, and the contrast in tone between the verses and choruses do well to reinforce this imagery. Just one listen will have you belting out the chorus “I deserve love”, so do yourself a favor and give it a spin, because this song certainly deserves some love.

Released: May 13th, 2017 Genres: Experimental folk, Ambient

STEPHEN ALEXANDER - WAVERING FIELD

Overview: Stephen Alexander is a master of creating interesting textures and putting the listener in a tangible, skillfully crafted sonic space. Wavering Field offers a unique listening experience, blending ambient sonic-scapes, spoken word, and carefully crafted songs together into a cohesive, compelling work of art.

Released: May 20th, 2017 Genres: Folk rock, 70s revival

RYAN WU - WUTASIA

Overview: Wutasia encapsulates everything great about 70s folk rock, and then blends in Ryan Wu’s unique flavor of indie slacker coolness.The dense arrangements, smooth guitar work, and stylized vocals will give your ear a lot to enjoy over repeated listens. Wutasia is a fun homage to classic folk rock that adds new life to the genre.

Released: May 25th, 2017 Genres: Jazz fusion, Prog

COTTER CHAMPLIN - PARALLEL VERTICES

Overview: Parallel Vertices is a commanding display of musicianship. The intricate arrangements of drums, bass, and guitar are always purposeful, never complex for complexity’s sake. The smooth, clean production fits these tunes perfectly, and the end product is a smart and engaging four course meal for the ears. Cotter Champlin has curated a wonderful auditory journey which needs to experienced firsthand.

Released: June 1st, 2017 Genres: Punk, Hardcore

POOR CHOICE - SOUTH SHORE SLAUGHTER

Overview: Do you like your music to punch you in the face? Do you like harsh vocals that don’t grate on your eardrums? Do you like distorted guitars that cause a stir deep down in your chest? If so, this EP is for. SOUTH SHORE SLAUGHTER is a hard hitting 5 track EP of pure energy that will have you nodding your head for its entire duration. POOR CHOICE is a misnomer, because listening to their music is a great choice.

Released: June 7th Genres: Political hip hop, Conscious rap

BOBBY SANCHEZ - THE CRISIS

Overview: The Crisis is super-charged political hip hop delivered with a great deal of conviction. Bobby Sanchez is a multi-talented writer & producer, and this 15-track work delves into important, timely social issues. The earnest vocal delivery, potent word-smithery, and creative production all elevate so that it’s not only entertainment, but functions on an intellectual level as well. The Crisis is not only a victory for DIY rap, but is a reminder that music can be a powerful vehicle for communication and social commentary.

Released: June 21st, 2017 Genre: Experimental folk

FOLDED VOICES - STONE BODY

Overview: Stone Body is a surprisingly vivid and abstract experience. Every detail in the production, arrangement, and execution decisively move in harmony to build a work of art which will leave an impression on you long after you’ve finished listening.   Stone Body is a beautifully ethereal record, and at the low-price of “free”, there are no excuses for not experiencing it for yourself.

Released: June 16th, 2017 Genres: Folk punk, Alt rock

LUCENT DREAMS - HONEST EP

Overview: Lucent Dreams demonstrates the potential still held within the indie folk arena with Honest EP. This record ranges from pumping folk punk, slow rocker jams, and densely arranged, sectional songs with layered harmonies and strings. Between the adept lyricism, creative production, varied song lineup, there's no question that Honest EP is worth your time.

Released: July 23rd, 2017 Genres: Indie rock, Bedroom

LONER SPRING - THE QUIET

Overview: “The Quiet” is everything you want a college/bedroom rock single. It evokes the best kind of melancholy, a hint of nostalgia, and a dash of sobering self study; similar to the feeling you’d get listening to a Death Cab for Cutie song. The arrangement and production fit the vibe very well, and there’s a subtle urgency throughout the song that builds through the song into a satisfying conclusion.

Released: July 29th, 2017 Genres: Synth pop, Electronic

PENTHOUSE BOYS - NEW IN TOWN

Overview: New In Town is a breath of fresh air for DIY music fans. This semi-satirical synth pop project showcases a creative narrative from the perspective of a NYC playboy of the early 90s. Not only is it an interesting premise, but the songs are undeniably fun and catchy. It's safe to say that this is one of the most unique projects released in 2017 and I can’t recommend it enough.

Released: August 6th, 2017 Genres: Garage rock, Math, Surf

ALOHA MACHINE - SOOTHOUSE

Overview: The latest Aloha Machine EP is a visceral experience which will keep the listener on their toes for the entire duration. With its driving rhythms, abstract instrumental sections, and inventive production; soothouse is necessary listening material for any garage rock fan who feels that the genre is growing stale. Aloha Machine’s creative use of rhythm, textures, and effects on soothouse is a must-hear for any fan of alternative music.

Released: August 16th, 2017 Genres: Indie folk, Americana

PANDAFAN - OCEAN B-SIDES

Overview: Pandafan offers a unique brand of indie folk with beautifully haunting 3-part harmonies. This ocean-themed collection of songs transports the listener to a picturesque alternate ocean side reality with each song telling a unique and captivating story. This release is also quite progressive for DIY music, as it includes a coinciding picture and lyric book. Pandafan has successfully delivered a wonderfully creative, deep, and forward thinking experience for the listener.

Released: August 19th, 2017 Genres: Indie folk, Singer songwriter

SEAN ROBERT JONES - SIGHTLESS

Overview: Sightless is just the right amount of dark, raw, and sparse. This release effectively features all the main ingredients needed for good folk music; engaging, vivid lyrics, accompanied by well arranged, impeccably recorded guitar parts. The emotive vocal delivery is the cherry on top of a well-constructed framework of song writing, making Sightless a must-listen for any folk music appreciator.

Released: August 20th, 2017 Genres: Hip hop, Indie rap

JOKAMUNDO - 100 REASONS

Overview: The multi-talented producer, beatsmith, and lyricist Jokamundo put out an extremely enjoyable and compelling EP with 100 Reasons. There’s a lot of variety in the production between each track, but every beat hits that head-bobbing sweet spot. The lyrics range from introspection about the struggles of the creative process, to straight clout and posturing, and at every step the delivery is smart, self-aware, and calculated. There are 100 reasons to check out this EP, just do it.

Released: August 2017 (start date) Genres: Electronic, Metawave

METRIC  TONES - DAILY RELEASES

Overview: There’s no album or EP here, but what we have here is a steady stream of daily releases which has stretched from the midpoint of 2017 to the time this blog is posted. The result is an incredibly varied collection of electronic pieces ranging from ambient soundscapes, to danceable grooves, and anywhere in between. It takes a great deal of commitment to create and release a piece of music every day, but to achieve that feat and have every release be legitimately cool and worth listening to is something else entirely. For inspiration, relaxation, or sheer curiosity, I highly recommend taking the time to listen through these tracks.

Released: September 2nd, 2017 Genres: Indie folk, Singer songwriter

TOM JOLU - WHAT YOU'RE STRIVING FOR

Overview: Tom Jolu has a way of embodying the core elements that make singer songwriters staple of music culture. The transparency of the lyrics, folk style guitar playing, and an implicit yearning in the vocal delivery make the listening experience authentic and engaging.What We’re Striving For is a short but sweet collection of songs that are a perfect soundtrack for reflection and driving around your hometown.

Released: September 15th, 2017 Genres: Future Soul, Groove, Fusion

JELANI SEI - LVNDR TWN

Overview: LVNDR TWN is a masterful blend of the groove and rock. The ridiculously tight rhythm section, embellishing guitar parts, and tasteful use of interesting vocal effects; all facets of production and instrumentation come together to create an extremely well presented work of art. This is an unbelievably cool EP that you must check out.

Released: September 16th, 2017 Genres: Pop punk, Indie

HIT LIKE A GIRL - YOU MAKE SENSE

Overview: You Make Sense features emotionally packed lyrics, crisp production, very singable choruses, and the reassurance that you’re not alone.   There’s a great mix of songs from driving pop-punk jams, emotive ballads, to a fun ukulele tune which closes out the record. Hit Light A Girl has curated a comfortable, approachable collection of tunes that you’d do well to take a listen through.

Released: September 22nd, 2017 Genres: Rock, Punk

FULL BODY - WHAT'S GOOD?

Overview: Full Body’s latest release is a driving force of nature from front to back. From track 1 the crunchy guitars, growling bass, heavy drums, tastefully saturated vocals, and hyper-compressed-everything grab hold of your ear drums and shake them around until the end of track 8. What’s Good? kicks real hard, and leaves you struggling to your feet wanting more.

Released: September 25th, 2017 Genres: Hard rock, Latin

ALEJO BECERRA - CALAVERA EP

Overview: Calavera’s opening track “I’m Not Leaving” is a politically charged kick in the ears, and sets the tone for the rest of the EP. Each song on this EP is a different flavor from the rock spectrum, with explorations into punk, hard rock ballads, and even some rap rock. Ultimately, if you’re looking for some solid head-banging tunes, then look no further than Calavera.

Released: October 6, 2017 Genres: Indie folk, College rock

LEE'S MANIFOLD - LEAVE A LIGHT ON

Overview: Leave a Light On places the listener in a rich and sonic space and keeps you there from start to finish. The brainchild of Liam Connors (Also of Strawberry Blonde), Lee’s Manifold employs dense acoustic-driven arrangements filled with strings, keys, electronics, and thick vocal harmonies, in addition to the traditional guitar, drums, and bass outfit. The community aspect of the recording process is is quite prevalent in the final product. This is much more than your average indie folk EP, it’s proof that the whole is much greater than the sum of its parts.

Released: October 8th, 2017 Genres: Dream pop, Bedroom

TINY BLUE GHOST - GROWING PAINS

Overview: Dreamy guitars, driving rhythms, and squeaky clean production - Tiny Blue Ghost delivers a well balanced, rock solid collection of songs on Growing Pains. Between the refined lyricism, and elegant instrumental arrangements, the breadth and depth of this record is on-par with something you would expect from a label-backed release.   Growing Pains features of catchy indie pop sensibilities, vivid storytelling, and an awesome looking cassette release; all of which you need to check our right now.

Released: October 26th, 2017 Genres: Psytrance, Experimental

ROBOT DETECTIVE - DISCOURSE

Overview: Listening to Discourse is like going through an inter-dimensional sonic wormhole. There is a great deal happening for the ear to dissect at any given moment on any given track, and the grainy, noisey elements mixed with the djembe rhythms make for a trippy, transportive experience. If you’re looking to delve into some psychedelic, experimental electronic music, then Discourse is a great choice.

Released: November 1st, 2017 Genres: Pop rock, Soul

JAKE KERKAPOLY - "RABBIT'S HOLE"

Overview: If you like your music smooth, then “Rabbit’s Hole” is a song you should check out. Channeling the best parts of a Maroon 5-esque vibe, this single packs all the groove, style, and sheen you want in a pop single.

Released: November 15th, 2017 Genres: Hip-hop, Soul

BOBBY WOODY - "PHOEBE"

Overview: A single from his upcoming mixtape Cartoons Are For Kids, Bobby Woody has graced us with a very friendly, groovy invitation into his sound with “Phoebe”. The production value is very high with the beat being comprised mostly of acoustic instruments. For these reasons listening to “Phoebe” feels like more than simply listening to a Bobby Woody single; it feels like all the community and energy of a live show has been packed into your bedroom.

Released: November 15th, 2017 Genres: Indie folk, Singer songwriter

CIARRA FRAGALE - ON YOUR MIND / MY HAIR'S GROWN LONGER

Overview: This double from Ciarra Fragale is an exposition of adept indie pop song writing carried by strong vocal performance and catchy melodies. The vocal lines in “On Your Mind” are strong enough to grab onto and swing around, and the layers of harmonies seem to smoothly glide across your ears. If you like pop folk, you’ll want to give this double a spin.

Released: November 18th, 2017 Genres: Blues rock, Garage

JULEZ - BACK TO FIRST STREET

Overview: If hard-hitting, driving blues-inspired rock music is something you want, then you can get it here with Back to First Street. The production is somehow simultaneously clean and dirty; and it has all the grit you’d expect, but is smooth enough so that it doesn’t wear on the ears. The record as a whole is a reassurance that dynamic, interesting rock music is alive and well in the indie world and is a must-listen for any lover of the genre.

Released: November 23, 2017 Genres: Indie rock, Folk

CITIZEN SERENADE - "PREMONITION"

Overview: “Premonition” offers a unique listening experience in both production and form. If you’re sick of the usual pop-song structure then you’ll be pleasantly surprised to find that this song has no distinct repeating repeating sections to speak of. That combined with driving acoustic guitars, swirling textures, and an interesting percussion groove makes this single from Citizen Serenade a solid listen.

Released: November 2017 Genres: Rap, Hip-hop

DOMCO - FOURTEEN

Overview: FOURTEEN is an impressive release that demands full attention from the listener. There’s a good variety to this record and each track hits hard for different reasons. Whether it’s from the beat, of the intense vocals, the political message, or because of relatable interpersonal struggles, DomCo gives the listener a lot of reasons to engage with FOURTEEN.

Released: December 10th, 2017 Genres: Bedroom, Slacker rock

EVAN LIU - FKDJ

Overview: If the nonchalant title of fkdj doesn't tell you all you need to know; this is a record for slackers. The loose production, the quiet delivery of the vocals, and dark tone of the guitar parts deliver a perfect soundtrack for when you want to do nothing but lay around in your room. To me there a bit of an “X” factor here that’s hard to explicitly sell, so in order to properly appreciate this record it’s best to give it a listen at 3am, in the dark, avoiding your responsibilities.

Released: August 11th, 2017 Genres: Art rap, Glitch hop

MILO - WHO TOLD YOU TO THINK??!!?!?!?!

Overview: You don't need us to tell you why this record is good, and even if we tried we couldn't sum it up in a blurb. There are seldom few artists who better exhibit the way in which an independent artist should best conduct themselves creatively, commercially, and ideologically in today’s environment. Milo’s latest release embodies this fact, and that is why who told you to think ??!!?!?!?! is TFTV’s Official Best 2017 Record.

[dustedmagazine]

Dusted Mid-Year Round-Up: Part 2, Dr. Pete Larson to  Young Slo-Be

James Brandon Lewis

The mid-year exchange continues with the second half of the alphabet and another round of Dusted writers reviewing other people’s favorite records.  Today’s selection runs the gamut from Afro-beat to hip hop to experimental music and includes some of this year’s best jazz records.  Check out part one if you missed it yesterday.  

Dr. Pete Larson and His Cytotoxic Nyatiti Band — Damballah (Dagoretti Records)

Damballah by Dr. Pete Larson and his Cytotoxic Nyatiti Band

Who Picked it? Mason Jones

Did we review it? No, but Jennifer Kelly said about his previous record, “It’s authentic not to some musicological conception of what nyatiti music should sound like, but to the instincts and proclivities of the musicians involved.”

Bryon Hayes’ take:

Judging from Jenny’s review, Dr. Pete Larson hasn’t really changed his modus operandi much since last year’s self-titled release. Well, he has appeared to have dropped vocalist Kat Steih and drummer Tom Hohman, who aren’t credited with an appearance on Damballah. Sonically, this album feels more polished than its predecessor. There’s a richness that was lacking before, a sense of clarity that Larson seems to have added here. He still hypnotizes with his nyatiti but doesn’t lose himself behind the other players. That sense of mesmerizing repetition of short passages on the resonant lute-like instrument is what sets the music of the Cytotoxic Nyatiti Band apart from other rock groups who play in the psychedelic vein. It’s easy to get lost in the intricate plucking patterns as the guitars and synths swirl about. The rhythms bounce cleverly against those created by the percussion, anchoring the songs to solid ground. Balancing the airy and the earthy, Dr. Peter Larson and His Cytotoxic Nyatiti Band create a cosmic commotion perfect for contemplation. 

 James Brandon Lewis / Red Lily Quintet — Jesup Wagon (TAO Forms)

Jesup Wagon by James Brandon Lewis / Red Lily Quintet

Who recommended it? Derek Taylor

Did we review it? Yes, Derek said, “’Fallen Flowers’ and ‘Seer’ contain sections of almost telepathic convergence, the former and the closing ‘Chemurgy’ culminating in Lewis’ spoken words inculcating the import of his subject.” 

Tim Clarke’s take:

Tenor saxophonist and composer James Brandon Lewis demonstrates his control of the instrument in the opening moments of Jesup Wagon’s title track. Before his Red Lily Quintet bandmates join the fray, he alternates between hushed ululations and full-blooded honks, inviting the listener to lean in conspiratorially. Once the rest of the band fire up, cornet player Kirk Knuffke, bassist William Parker, cellist Chris Hoffman and drummer Chad Taylor lock into a loose, muscular shuffle. Their collective chemistry is immediately evident, and each player has the opportunity to shine across this diverse set’s 50-minute runtime. I’m particularly drawn to the rapid-fire rhythmic runs on “Lowlands of Sorrow,” the gorgeous cello on “Arachis,” and the spacious, mbira-laced “Seer.” There’s something about the mournful horn melody of the final piece, “Chemurgy,” that sends me back to first hearing Ornette Coleman’s “Lonely Woman” — and, just like that, I’m excited about the prospect of exploring jazz again, for the first time in a long time. Great pick, Derek.

 Roscoe Mitchell & Mike Reed — The Ritual And The Dance (Astral Spirits) 

the Ritual and the Dance by Roscoe Mitchell & Mike Reed

Who recommended it? Derek Taylor

Did we review it? Yes, Derek wrote, “Roscoe Mitchell remains an improvisational force to be reckoned with.”

Andrew Forell’s take:

For 17-plus minutes, Roscoe Mitchell solos on his soprano with barely a pause, the rush of notes powered by circular breathing, as drummer Mike Reed’s controlled clatter counterpoints Mitchell’s exploration of his instrument’s range and tonal qualities in what sounds like a summation of his long career at the outer edge of jazz. It‘s an extraordinary beginning to this performance, recorded live in 2015. On first listen it sounds chaotic, but shapes emerge in Mitchell’s sound, and Reed’s combination of density and silence complements, punctuates and supports in equal measure. After an incisive solo workout from Reed combining clanging metal and rolling toms, Mitchell swaps to tenor and the pace changes. Longer, slower notes, a rougher, reed heavy tone and a lighter touch from Reed. Having not closely followed Mitchell’s work since his days in The Art Ensemble Of Chicago, this performance was a revelation and will have me searching back through his catalog.     

The Notwist — Vertigo Days (Morr Music)

Vertigo Days by The Notwist

Who recommended it? Tim Clarke

Did we review it?  Yes, Tim said, “The Notwist really know how to structure a front-to-back listening experience, and this is emphatically a work of art best appreciated as a whole.”

Arthur Krumins’ take: 

In his review of Vertigo Days, Tim Clarke highlights the “multiple layers of drifting, shifting instrumentation.” It is an album that seems unbound by adherence to a set instrument lineup, and it moves quickly between moods both frenetic and contemplative. However, due to a careful mixing and an unforced approach to genre expectations, it is a surprising and varied listen that bears repeated scrutiny. The touchstones of the sound are at times the motorik beat of krautrock, at others the ethereal indie pop of their melodies and the quality of their singing. It feels like the perfect quirky coffee shop album, just out there enough to create a vibe, but tactful enough to take you along for the ride.

  Dorothea Paas — Anything Can’t Happen (Telephone Explosion)

Anything Can't Happen by Dorothea Paas

Who picked it? Arthur Krumins.

Did we review it? No. 

Eric McDowell’s take:

In one sense, it’s fair to say that Dorothea Paas’s debut album opens with a false start: A single note sounded and then retreated from, fingers sliding up and down the fretboard with the diffidence of a throat clearing. Yet what gesture could more perfectly introduce an album so marked by uncertainty, vulnerability, and naked self-assessment? 

If Anything Can’t Happen is an open wound, it’s a wound Paas willingly opens: “I’m not lonely now / Doing all the things I want to and working on my mind / Sorting through old thoughts.” That doesn’t make the pain any less real — though it does make it more complex. “It’s so hard to trust again / When you can’t even trust yourself,” Paas sings on the utterly compelling title track, her gaze aiming both inward and outward. Elsewhere she admits: “I long for a body closer to mine / But I don’t want to seek, I just want to find.” Instrumentally, Paas and her bandmates manage to temper an inclination toward static brooding with propulsive forward motion, a balance that suits the difficult truth — or better yet, difficult truce — the album arrives at in the climactic “Frozen Window”: “How can I open to love again, like a plant searches for light through a frozen window? / Can I be loved, or is it all about control? / I will never know until I start again.” In the spirit of starting again, Anything Can’t Happen ends with a doubling down on the opening prelude, reprising and extending it — no false start to be found. 

 Dominic Pifarely Quartet — Nocturnes (Clean Feed) 

Nocturnes by Dominique Pifarély Quartet

Who recommended it? Jason Bivins

Did we review it? No 

Derek Taylor’s take: 

Pifarely and I actually go way back in my listening life, specifically to Acoustic Quartet, an album the French violinist made for ECM as a co-leader with countryman clarinetist Louis Sclavis in 1994. Thirty-something at the time, his vehicle for that venture was an improvising chamber ensemble merging classical instrumentation and extended techniques with jazz and folk derived influences. The results, playful and often exhilaratingly acrobatic, benefited greatly from austere ECM house acoustics. Nearly three decades distant, Nocturnes is a different creature, delicate and darker hued in plumage and less enamored of melody, harmony and rhythm, at least along conventional measures. Drones and other textures are regular elements of the interplay between the leader’s strings, the piano of Antonin Rayon and the sparse braiding and shadings of bassist Bruno Chevillon and drummer Francois Merville. Duos also determine direction, particular on the series of titular miniatures that are as much about space as they are centered in sound. It’s delightful to get reacquainted after so much time apart.  

The Reds Pinks & Purples — Uncommon Weather (Slumberland/Tough Love)

Uncommon Weather by The Reds, Pinks & Purples

Who picked it? Jennifer Kelly

Did we review it? Yes, Jennifer said, “Uncommon Weather is undoubtedly the best of the Reds, Pinks & Purples discs so far, an album that is damned near perfect without seeming to try very hard.”   

Bill Meyer’s take:

Sometimes a record hits you where you live. Glenn Donaldson’s too polite to do you any harm, but he not only knows where you live, he knows your twin homes away from home, the record store and the club where you measure your night by how many bands’ sets separate you from last call. He knows the gushing merch-table mooches and the old crushes that casually bring the regulars down, and he also knows how to make records just like the ones that these folks have been listening to since they started making dubious choices. Uncommon Weather sounds like a deeply skilled recreation of early, less chops-heavy Bats, and if that description makes sense to you, so will this record.

 claire rousay — A Softer Focus (American Dreams Records)

a softer focus by Claire Rousay

Who picked it? Bryon Hayes  

Did we review it? Yes, Bryon Hayes wrote, “These field recordings of the mundane, when coupled with the radiance of the musical elements, are magical.”  

Ian Mathers’ take:  

In a weird way (because they are very different works from very different artists), A Softer Focus reminds me a bit of Robert Ashley’s Private Parts (The Album). Both feel like the products of deep focus and concentration but wear their rigor loosely, and both feel like beautifully futile attempts to capture or convey the rich messiness of human experience. But although there is a musicality to Private Parts, Ashley is almost obsessed by language and language acts, and even though the human voice is more present than ever in rousay’s work (not just sampled or field recorded, but outright albeit technologically smeared singing on a few tracks) it feels like it reaches to a place in that experience beyond words. The first few times I played it I had moments where I was no longer sure exactly what part of what I was hearing were coming from my speakers versus from outside my apartment, and as beautiful as the more conventional ambient/drone aspects of A Softer Focus are (including the cello and violin heard throughout), it’s that kind of intoxicating disorientation, of almost feeling like I’m experiencing someone else’s memory, that’s going to stay with me the longest. 

 M. Sage — The Wind Of Things (Geographic North)

The Wind of Things by M. Sage

Who recommended it? Bryon Hayes

Did we review it? No

Bill Meyer’s take:

Matthew Sage’s hybrid music gets labeled as ambient by default. Sure, it’s gentle enough to be ignorable, but Sage’s combination of ruminative acoustic playing (mostly piano and guitar, with occasional seasoning from reeds, violin, banjo, and percussion) and memory-laden field recordings feels so personal that it’s hard to believe he’d really be satisfied with anyone treating this stuff as background music. But that combination of the placid and the personal may also be The Wind of Things’ undoing since it’s a bit too airy and undemonstrative to make an impression.

 Skee Mask — Pool (Ilian Tape)

ITLP09 Skee Mask - Pool by Skee Mask

Who picked it? Patrick Masterson

Did we review it? No 

Robert Ham’s take:

Pool is an appropriate title for the new album by Munich electronic artist Bryan Müller. The record is huge and deep, with its 18 tracks clocking in at around 103 minutes. And Müller has pointedly only released the digital version of Pool through Bandcamp, adding it a little hurdle to fans who just want to pick and choose from its wares for their playlists. Dipping one’s toes in is an option, but the only way to truly appreciate the full effect is to dive on in. 

Though Müller filled Pool up with around five years’ worth of material, the album plays like the result of great deliberation. It flows with the thoughtfulness and intention of an adventurous DJ set, with furious breakbeat explosions like “Breathing Method” making way for the languorous ambient track “Ozone” and the unbound “Rio Dub.” Then, without warning, the drum ‘n’ bass breaks kick in for a while. 

The full album delights in those quick shifts into new genres or wild seemingly disparate sonic connections happening within the span of a single song. But again, these decisions don’t sound like they were made carelessly. Müller took some time with this one to get the track list just right. But if there is one thread that runs along the entirety of Pool, it is the air of joy that cuts through even its downcast moments. The splashing playfulness is refreshing and inviting.

 Speaker Music — Soul-Making Theodicy (Planet Mu)

Soul-Making Theodicy by Speaker Music

Who picked it? Mason Jones

Did we review it? No 

Robert Ham’s take:

The process by which DeForrest Brown Jr., the artist known as Speaker Music, created his latest EP sounds almost as exciting as the finished music. If I understand it correctly — and I’m not entirely sure that I do — he created rhythm tracks using haptic synths, a Push sequencer, and a MIDI keyboard, that he sent through Ableton and performed essentially a live set of abstract beats informed by free jazz, trap and marching band. Or as Brown calls them “stereophonic paintings.” 

Whatever term you care to apply to these tracks and however they were made, the experience of listening to them is a dizzying one. A cosmic high that takes over the synapses and vibrates them until your vision becomes blurry and your word starts to smear together like fog on a windshield. Listening to this EP on headphones makes the experience more vertiginous if, like I did, you try to unearth the details and sounds buried within the centerpiece track “Rhythmatic Music For Speakers,” a 33-minute symphony of footwork stuttering and polyrhythms. Is that the sound of an audience responding to this sensory overload that I hear underneath it all? Or is that wishful imaginings coming from a mind hungry for the live music experience? 

 The Telescopes — Songs of Love And Revolution (Tapete) 

Songs Of Love And Revolution by the telescopes

Who recommended it? Robert Ham

Did we review it? No. 

Andrew Forell’s take:

Songs Of Love And Revolution glides along on murky subterranean rhythms that evoke Mo Tucker’s heartbeat toms backed with thick bowel-shaking bass lines. Somewhere in the murk Stephen Lawrie’s murmured vocals barely surface as he wrings squalls of noise from his guitar to create a dissonant turmoil to contrast the familiarity of what lies beneath. The effect is at once hypnotic and joltingly thrilling, similar to hearing Jesus And Mary Chain for the first time but played a at pace closer to Bedhead. A kind of slowcore shoegaze, its mystery enhanced by what seems deliberately monochrome production that forces and rewards close attention. When they really let go on “We See Magic And We Are Neutral, Unnecessary” it hits like The Birthday Party wrestling The Stooges. So yeah, pretty damn good.

 Leon Vynehall — Rare, Forever (Ninja Tune)

Rare, Forever by LEON VYNEHALL

Who recommended it? Patrick Masterson

Did we review it? No. 

Jason Bivins’ take: 

I was amused to see Leon Vynehall’s album tucked into the expansive “Unknown genre” non-category. This is, as is often the case with these mid-year exchanges, a bit far afield from the kind of music I usually spin. Much of it is, I suppose, rooted in house music. Throughout these tracks, there are indeed some slinky beats that’ll get you nodding your head while prepping the dinner or while studying in earnest. There’s plenty to appreciate on the level of grooves and patterns, but he closer you listen, the more subversive, sneaky details you notice. The opening “Ecce! Ego!” isn’t quite as brash as the title would suggest, featuring some playfully morphed voices, old school synth patches and snatches of instrumentalism. But after just a couple minutes, vast cosmic sounds start careening around your brainpan while a metal bar drops somewhere in the audial space. Did that just happen? you wonder as the groove continues. Moments of curiosity and even discomfort are plopped down, sometimes as transitions (like the closing vocal announcement on “In>Pin” — “like a moth” — that introduces the echo-canyon of “Mothra”) but usually as head-scrambling curveballs. Startled voices or flutes or subterranean sax bubble up from beneath deep house thrum, then are gone in ways that are arresting and deceptive. I still don’t know what to make of the lounge-y closing to “Snakeskin – Has-Been” or the unexpected drone monolith of “Farewell! Magnus Gabbro.” In its way, Vynehall’s music is almost like what you’d get if Graham Lambkin or Jason Lescalleet made a house record. Pretty rich stuff.

 Michael Winter — single track (Another Timbre)

single track by Michael Winter

Who recommended it? Eric McDowell 

Did we review it? Not yet! 

Mason Jones’ take: 

Over its 45 minutes, Michael Winter’s 2015 composition slowly accelerates and accumulates, starting from an isolated violin playing slightly arrhythmic, single fast strokes. The playing, centered around a single root note, seems almost random, but flashes of melodic clusters make it clear they're not. After nine minutes other players have joined in and there's a developing drone, as things sort of devolve, with atonal combinations building. By the one-third mark everything has slowed down significantly, and the players are blending together, with fewer melodies standing out. Instead, it's almost more drone than not; and at a half hour in, most of the strings have been reduced to slowly changing tones. As we near the end we’re hearing beautiful layers of string drones, descending into the final few minutes of nearly static notes. It's an intriguing and oddly listenable composition given its atonality. The early moments bring to mind Michael Nyman, and the later movements summon thoughts of Tony Conrad and La Monte Young, but it's clearly different from any of them, and more than the sum of those parts.

 Young Slo-Be — Red Mamba (KoldGreedy Entertainment / Thizzler On The Roof)

Who picked it? Ray Garraty 

Did we review it? No. 

Ian Mathers’ take: 

The 12 tracks on Red Mamba fly by in a little over 27 minutes (not a one breaks the three-minute mark) but the result doesn’t feel slight so much as pared down to a sharpness you might cut yourself on. Stockon’s Young Slo-Be only seems to have one flow (or maybe it’d be more accurate to say he only seems interested in one) but he knows how to wield it with precision and force, and if the subject matter hews closely to the accepted canon of gangbanger concerns, Slo-Be delivers it all with vivid language and the studied, superior disdain of an older brother explaining the world to you and busting your chops at the same time. The tracks on Red Mamba all come from different producers, but Slo-Be consistently chooses spectral, eerie, foreboding backgrounds for these songs, even when adding piano and church bells (on “Asshole”), dog barks (“21 Thoughts”) or even Godfather-esque strings (the closing “Rico Swavo”). What’s the old line about the strength of street knowledge? These are different streets, and different knowledge.

[doomedandstoned]

Suncraft Stir Up a Riffstorm on ‘Flat Earth Rider’

~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

By Billy Goate

Norway has been springing to life with up-beat, sunny stoner rock in recent years. Some have argued we just dispense with the "stoner" label and banner this sound under the well-established umbrella of "hard rock," and I don't have a problem with that in principle. When you hear a band like SUNCRAFT do their thing, there's no denying that their roots rest deep beneath the soil of the heavy underground, with the influence of fuzzy, downtuned bands of yesteryear evident as a striking new voice arises from the smokey haze of pandemic.

There's been no small buzz around Suncraft's new album, 'Flat Earth Rider' (2021), with at least three singles from the six-track spin already circulating. Each demonstrates the musical proclivities of the Oslo band, which often blur the lines between rock and heavy metal, with both progressive and pop sensibilities surfacing at the most unexpected moments, I imagine the identity of this four-man crew that will only continue to evolve into greater heights beyond this launch.

"Lingo Hive Mind" (which Doomed & Stoned gives you a first-listen to now) comes with a boisterous start that threw me right into the mosh of the beat, like some hapless soul swept away by the ocean's current. It's an agressive, yet quite jazzy start to the song. This is followed in quick succession by verses from frontman/bassist Rasmus Skage Jensen, whose vocals are both clean and gruff as the humour insists.

A short psychedelic interlude waterlogs the noggin mid-way, but not long enough to disarm us from the revelrous romp that is to follow (shades of Orange Goblin, as my fellow blogger JJ at The Obelisk has also observed). The wicked guitar tone between twin axemen Sigurd Grøtan and Vebjørn Rindal Krogstad really comes into its own as the song bounces along. Great drumming on the part of Tobias Paulsen, as well. The song comes to a finish with a brief, but cacophonous conclusion, that recalls the opening gambol.

It's a fine introduction to what you'll encounter on Flat Earth Rider, though the band has much more range for the listener to discover in the tracks that precede and follow "Lingo Hive Mind" (if you haven't heard it already, prior single "Commie Cannibals" is must-hear Suncraft fare -- not to mention the album's stunning finisher, "Bridges To Nowhere").

Reached for comment, frontman Rasmus tells Doomed & Stoned:

The song is, in my mind, about how language affects how we experience feelings. So the song asks what happens to a feeling that there is no word for. The song embraces the answer that it simply disappears, devoting itself to language.

Look for Flat Earth Rider out on All Good Clean Records, releasing August 6th (pre-order here). A vibrant and badass record to accompany you in your summer (road) tripping adventures, for sure! (p.s. The first time I heard it, I listened three times through, so yeah, it's good.)

Give ear...

All Good Clean Records: · SUNCRAFT - "Lingo Hive Mind"

SOME BUZZ

If you need a fix of riveting riffs, thumping grooves, luscious melodies and heavy, stoner-inspired rock n’ roll: Suncraft is just what you’re looking for. Let this quartet from the underground scene of Oslo, Norway seduce you. Let them bring you into their solipsistic realm of gloom – where the songs are playfully constructed and lyrically explore themes of greed and conspiracy.

Since late 2017, Suncraft have played their fair share of club shows in the nooks and crannies of Norway, honing the craft of playing explosively energetic concerts. After having released their 2019 EP, 'Saigon,' the live-performances abruptly ended in March, 2020. Turning the blow of the pandemic into a positive, the boys put all their efforts into writing their debut album, 'Flat Earth Rider' (2021), which is now set for release in the summer. As soon as the world is safe enough, Suncraft will hit the road again and bring their unique flavour of rock n’ roll to a growing audience.

'Flat Earth Rider' is Suncraft’s debut album, written and recorded during 2020. The album is a collection of six unique tracks that show off the band’s wide array of songwriting prowess. They draw from diverse rock n’ roll influences, from the classic rock-inspired riff of the titular track, to the doomy chorus of "Commie Cannibals," the spaced-out vocals on "Adaptation," and the blast beat-induced ten-minute closing track "Bridges to Nowhere." This album is filled to the brim with genre-breaking tricks-up-the-sleeve.

Lyrically, the album ponders on themes of greed, alienation, loneliness, and spirituality, reflecting upon conundrums of contemporary life. One highlight in particular would be the song "Flat Earth Rider," which paints a tragicomic picture of an imagined flat earther’s search for truth and meaning.

The album was live recorded with the full band, adding solos, vocals, and extra goodies afterwards. This adds a liveliness to the flow of the songs and an organic feel. Produced, mixed, and mastered by Ruben Willem, who has recorded Norwegian hard rock heavy hitters such as The Good The Bad and The Zugly, Okkultokrati, and Djevel, the production is gnarly and lush as ever.

Follow The Band

Get Their Music

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

Kiss

[shannygoatgruff]

Only Fan(s) - A Thriller

Genre: Thriller

Pairing: Modern Ivar/OC

Warning: Language, sex, stalking, obsession, kidnapping, sexual assault

Rating: MA+18

Summary: Sometimes OnlyFans subscribers want a little more than internet pictures. Sometimes they want to be your ONLY fan...

Header by: @flowers-in-your-hayr​

Thanks to @xbellaxcarolinax​ for being my beta.

Disclaimer: This story will deal with some topics that might be a little uncomfortable for some people. As always, I’ll try to tackle the hard stuff as tactfully as possible.

A/N: This is a fic I started 10-years ago for another fandom. I never finished it, but I loved the concept. I have an idea of what I want to do with it - hopefully, I’ll finish it this time around.

Part i - Train Wreck 

It had taken forever to get the subwoofer out of the Challenger's trunk without damaging the cords. However, it was done with such skill and precision, it appeared a surgeon had removed it. The tricky part had been hooking the stereo back up to the factory-installed speakers after the subwoofer had been removed, and making everything look nice and neat, so the car’s owner wouldn’t be aware.

It had taken longer than usual, but it was well worth it. Whoever installed this particular unit, did a really good job. They were so meticulous with their installation, right down to the intricate wiring system – not that straight out the box shit that comes with aftermarket speaker setups. It had proven to be a tedious job, but not impossible.

No matter how daunting the task of removing the subwoofer had been, it wasn’t half as difficult as hooking it up to the old iPod without the benefit of a stereo. It had been a painstakingly slow process. One wrong splice of the cord and the mp4 player would short out. But tenacity always paid off. The result looked raggedy, with cords kept in place with electrical tape, the iPod balanced on its side, held in place between two books, and a huge metal subwoofer vibrating next to it. It was ugly, but it worked.

The volume on the iPod was cranked up to the highest level. It was so loud that the walls shook with each kick of the bass drum. There was no reason to ever use a speaker that powerful in a room this size, but the song demanded it. All good music demanded to be blasted at the highest of decibels; this song in particular. It had been playing on repeat for the past hour. One song. One constant beat. One melody, and one voice screeching over that amazing guitar riff. Listening to it on anything lower than the max was the true definition of insanity.

The people staying in the room next door disagreed because they had already done everything to get her to turn it down. They had yelled, banged on the walls, kicked her door, and even called the manager. It didn't matter. The fucking neighbors could eat a dick. Even if they called the National Guard the volume wasn’t changing. This song wasn't "noise", it was destined to be a fucking classic – in her room, if nowhere else. If it was possible to play the song any louder, she would have.

These fuckstick neighbors. They were the only ones that didn't understand how places like this worked. The rule was, there were no rules – that was the beauty of it. That's why this particular room was the best choice. It was on the second floor, around the back facing the alley instead of the highway. There was nothing else on this side of the building except the five rooms on this level, garbage dumpsters, the on ramp, and a peeling billboard. What in the hell were they expecting? If one picked a shit motel, with a shit room that offered no view, why would they think it would be quiet?

Anyone could stay in a two or three-star hotel. But, a bed-bug infested No Tell-Motel? People stayed here because they wanted to get away with whatever dirt they were trying to do. That's why these places charge by the hour and not by the night. Most people wouldn't even want to stay for the entire night. Dirt didn't take that much time to commit. For the most part, the only people who stayed in places like this only needed the space for about 20 minutes…a few hours tops, if they had a lot of stamina. It was don't ask, don't tell…don't listen, don't knock. These assholes should know that. 

Annoying ass neighbors aside, the room was comfortable. The thick smell of stale cigarette smoke clung to the air was reminiscent of home. The smoky air coupled with a heavy bassline made it feel like a rock video. The only problem with the room was that it was hotter than a crack whore's crotch.

The air-conditioning unit in the sole window did little more than blow the smoke rings further around the room. It provided a nice buzzing sound that served as background noise and as a reverb for the music. There was also a burning smell that came from the window-unit being cranked up to full blast. It had been a little hard to get used to, at first, but two packs of cigarettes later, it was no longer noticeable.

The roaches sure didn't seem to appreciate the extra heat in the room. They constantly ran in and out of the vents of the air-conditioner like they were trying to find a cooler climate. Or maybe they were just hungry. The box of half-eaten pizza on the dinette table not only provided a suitable temporary home but also a hardy meal. They gathered there, grabbing their lunchtime snacks before running off to other wall cracks to share in a meal with their friends and family.

Most people would have found the place a disgusting, germ-infested, death trap. But, Torren wasn't most people. She didn't seem to notice anything in particular about her living conditions. She had other things to focus on. She had already paid for this week, and next, so what did she care? The place had all of the essentials; electricity, toilet, running water, a bed, and a TV.

Granted, the electricity was spotty, to the point that she couldn't have her flatiron and blow dryer plugged in at the same time. The toilet was so soiled that it still hadn't been determined if there were rust stains in it, or if it just had never been cleaned…ever. The water ran brown when it rained and a cloudy gray the rest of the time. It didn't get hot either, but it did get tepid if she let it run for 10 minutes, but not hot. Not hot enough to sanitize your hands, or to take a bath in.

But, it was already hot in the room, so a cold shower wasn't so bad. Besides, the tub was indescribable. If someone told her that a family of six had been murdered, and dismembered in that tub, she wouldn't be surprised. It just had that horror movie slaughter look, and the stains to prove it.

The bed was hard and lumpy and judging from the DNA left behind from past guests and holes in the sheets, they probably hadn't ever been changed. The TV was small, but at least it was in color. Hell, the room even came with its own pets, and it was only $50 for the week! There truly wasn't anything to complain about.

Torren Sykes sat cross-legged in the middle of the bed, surrounded by ripped out, stolen magazine pages and color copies of photos she’d downloaded and printed at the library. She rocked her head and shoulders in a slow sway to the beat of the song playing. Haphazardly she flipped through the pages until she found a suitable picture and smiled. Picking up the scissors, she licked her lips slowly and ferried her brow, as she started the task of cutting it out.

"Goddammit!" She yelled before slamming the paper down on the bed. Stomping angrily toward the door, she pulled it open and narrowed her eyes at the man standing there. "I swear, if you knock on this door again, I'm gonna slit your fucking throat," she cringed, narrowing her eyes and pointing the shears at the man's neck.

The motel manager was taken by surprise at the half-naked woman holding shears to his neck. Standing before him was a beautiful brunette, with dark features. She had a creamy, light coffee-colored complexion – these days it was hard to judge a person’s ethnic makeup, but if he had to venture a guess, he’d think she was bi-racial. She had perfectly shaped large, almond, brown eyes that gave off nothing but a vacant stare, and a heart-shaped face. The soft dimple in her chin, and the one just at the curve of her mouth, gave her an almost angelic look. She was considerably shorter than him, about 5'5", and well built.

She wouldn't have been considered thin; she was far too curvy for that – the term slim thick instantly sprang to mind. She had thick thighs, extremely pronounced hips, and presumably a large ass. Yet, her waist was small, and her stomach flat, and big breasts. Not too big, where one would sprain their thumb trying to hold them, but they were big enough to keep any man occupied.

The manager wondered if she had some work done to get a body like that. It wasn’t uncommon for women around her to have a little nip, tuck, and a whole lot added to try to look like a vid-hoe, these days.

She was wearing the smallest pair of underwear he'd ever seen. And what was the purpose of wearing a cut off top that stopped just under her nipples? She might as well not be wearing a shirt at all. He could see the curve of the lower half of her breasts because the shirt failed to cover the lower half of her chest. If she raised her arm any higher he would have gotten a full-on nip-slip.

She glistened with a fine sheen of sweat all over her body; her long hair clung to her cheeks and neck, with it. It was almost like her hair was beating as quickly as her pulse was. He could feel the rush of heat come out of the room, as soon as she opened the door. It was like she had just opened the door to an oven. She was hot and sweaty, yet she still wore long tube socks that came up to her knees.

If she hadn't been assaulting him with a deadly weapon, it would have looked like something he’d recently seen on Porn Hub.

He had been so taken aback that he couldn't think of anything to say to her. Instead, he took a step backward and watched as she slammed the door. The entire encounter took about 5 seconds. Long enough for her to open the door, threaten him, and slam it again in his face. He wasn't sure what he was more surprised by, how she answered the door almost naked, the temperature of her room, the level of her music, the anger in her voice, or the scissors that had been pointed just inches below his throat. The whole scene was just wrong and it scared him.

In the 20 seconds that he continued to stand in front of the closed room door, he thought about what scared him the most. It was the look in her eyes. Those beautiful almond-shaped eyes were intense. They were concentrated. They had absently stared right through him. Something about those eyes wasn't right. Had she even seen him? He would never admit it, but he hoped like hell that she hadn't. He hoped that she didn't remember what he looked like. He didn't want any trouble, and he could tell that she definitely was.

Stomping her way back to her bed, Torren resumed her aforementioned position, picked up the copied photo, and started to sway to the music again. She smiled a little taking a second to run her fingers over the image on the page before she resumed cutting. Scraps of paper fell to the bed and the floor, some even stuck to her sweaty legs.

She clutched the cut-out to her chest, before falling back on the bed. Settling on her back, she held the picture up to the light. With tenderness, she brought the piece of paper down to her lips. She kissed it...him, with such passion, before sticking her tongue out of her mouth, and letting it rest on the computer paper - where his lips were, her wet tongue instantly wetting the page and smearing the ink. Planting her feet on the bed, she lifted her waist from the mattress and started to thrust upward with the beat of the song.

Seductively, she flipped over on all fours, laying the picture down on the pillows. She whipped her hair around her head, before letting it hang over her shoulder. She scooped her neck down and began kissing the picture again. As she did, she started to grind her hips hard against the balled up blankets.

She let one hand travel down her torso, toward her panties and smirked at the picture as she did. She braced herself on her left knee and elbow, before lifting her right leg out, then up. Roughly, she took her fingers and plunged them deep inside of herself. She bit her bottom lip, hard; she could taste the coppery blood on her tongue, and when she leaned down to kiss the picture again, she managed to get a nice bloody lip print on it. She twirled her hips and moaned loudly as she pleasured herself. Her eyes never left the picture. She removed her fingers, only to trace the dampness on the image before placing them in her mouth. Her taste was incredible. It always turned her on.

She had to have him. She needed him.

She flipped over on the bed, this time grabbing a magazine cover she had torn off from one of the stacks she found in the library. This one had him on the cover.

With a sense of urgency, she smoothed the waxy page down her body, before stuffing the picture along with her hand inside her panties. She closed her eyes. She felt his tongue running over her; she felt his fingers inside of her. The pillow next to her, the one covered in taped photos of him was now on top of her to simulate his body on hers, as her hand and the magazine continued to work. She couldn't get enough of him. She would never get enough of him.

In the middle of a mind-blowing orgasm, that happened to coincide with the best guitar solo ever created, blasting from the speaker, she managed to yell one word, "IVAR!" Then she flopped back on the bed in hysterical laughter.

She straightened out the magazine cover and picked up her bloody cut-out from the pillow.

Wordlessly, she stuck them both to the wall with her juices; amongst the 50 other printouts of him that hung just over her headboard. After giving him another kiss, she finally turned down the volume on her makeshift stereo, picked up a piece of pizza from the box, shook it off, then headed into the bathroom for a cold shower.

Part ii

Let me know if you want to be added/deleted from tags:

Tags: @idea-garden @youbloodymadgenius @xbellaxcarolinax @a-mess-of-fandoms @didiintheblog @conaionaru @peachyboneless​ @flowers-in-your-hayr​

[hoboonthetracks]

DAVID BOWIE: A MODERN LOVE David Bowie created many exotic characters and dressed in ways that back in the 1970s could get you arrested but as Andrew Vaughan explains he was always a Mod at heart. When we were thirteen our "Glam" hangouts were the front rooms of Orrell, near Wigan. For Studio 54 read 39, 42 or 44 Vicarage Road. If we fancied a game of snooker while we listened to music it was our house. If we fancied fooling about it was Geoff Bradshaw’s or Pey Halliwell’s across the road. By now our mums were out at work and you couldn’t swim in the rezzies or play cricket all of the summer holidays. Here, we’d phone girls up in the vain attempt at inviting them around, or phone for taxis for people we didn’t like down the bottom of the street. It was all typical teenage stuff but it was all played out to the soundtrack of David Bowie.It was the ‘Starman moment’ that made Boy George realise he was gay! Or so he’s recounted on numerous occasions.The moment David Bowie put his arm around the frankly very heterosexual-looking Mick Ronson on ‘Top of the Pops’ was the moment something twitched in George O’Dowd’s pants. Two-hundred miles north this teenage lad just thought: “This record’s brilliant!” Sure Bowie looked odd but it was his music that mattered.The fantastic haircut helped but basically it was just a great song.‘Top of the Pops’ mattered back then and what mattered to us working-class kids was that we had a new musical hero. It was a short sharp shock to the system but during the next few years Hunky Dory, Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane were played, played out and then we went back to Space Oddity and Man Who Sold the World and back to that hazy crazy sixties debut album entitled David Bowie via the reissued The World of David Bowie.Most of the songs on David Bowie came from when the man was simply known as Davy Jones. Davy Jones the Mod about town or sometimes Davie Jones the Mod about town. It's aways hard to keep up with the Joneses. He was with the the Konrads, the King Bees, the Manish Boys, the Riot Squad and Buzz. They played blues and soul, beat and pop. Looking for that hit, always moving on until Davy Jones eventually became David Bowie (to avoid confusion with The Monkees' lead singer Davy Jones); releasing his self-titled debut album in 1967. It's an album of its time and reflects plenty of the genres of music that were around at that time. Catchy baroque pop and novelty tunes along with more meatier efforts dealing with everyday issues such as peer pressure in Join The Gang and class issues in Maids of Bond Street . Then there are the out-and-out love songs such as Love You Till Tuesday and When I Dream My Dream all delivered in that Anthony Newley vocal style with touches of music hall and echoes of Kinks’ Englishness. While the album is often looked at as nothing more than a gateway to Bowie's later work - and there are lots of pointers in there as to what was to come - I like it. A lot. It stands up on its own merits and while it is never going to get you on the dancefloor there are some tunes in there while it will make you smile, and it will give you an idea where David Bowie's head and the nation's mindset was at in the summer of 1967. It is available in various formats and if you are not bothered about owning the original vinyl on Deram then there are - according to Discogs - 57 versions available. However, it might be worth picking up the 1995 album London Boy  released on Spectrum Music via Decca Records.This is basically the David Bowie album put the tracks The Laughing Gnome (we’ll quickly skip over this), the majestic Karma Man and the exquisite The London Boys.The London Boys is Bowie's first truly brilliant song. It appeared as the B-side to Rubber Band - from the David Bowie album - and slipped under the radar. It is a classic. It's Bowie's downer to David Bowie's uppers. It's a reflection on another side of the scene. The pills, the aspirations and depressions, the lack of money, the loneliness and the yearning for home. "A London boy, oh a London boyYour flashy clothes are your pride and joyA London boy, a London boyYou think you've had a lot of funBut you ain't got nothing, you're on the run" It is possibly the most depressing song you'll ever hear but its dark lyrics are quite, quite beautiful. It may have been seen as Bowie's goodbye to the sixties, maybe at the time it may have felt like his farewell to his career in music but Bowie was not for giving up. Like many he moved into hippy circles, produced the glorious folk rock of Space Oddity, went heavy metal with The Man Who Sold The World, returned to folk (albeit sprinkled with a little glitter) on Hunky Dory before he went Glamtastic and became the megastars that were Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane. Yet through all the craziness he remained a Mod at heart and when he was contractually obliged to produce an album in 1973 he returned to the sixties with an album of covers entitled Pinups.And what an album it is. It's basically Bowie and the boys doing the songs he loved back then. It's raw, it was recorded quickly and the energy bursts through the speakers. Dissed at the time by many Bowie purists the record has aged beautifully. With songs from “Syd's Pink Floyd”, The Who, Them and the Kinks to name a few it is a garage rock album to be played loud and often. Yet amidst Mick Ronson's guitar and Aynsley Dunbar's Moon-Like drums the band slip in a version of The McCoys Sorrow - a song so beautiful that it'll make you weep. It was in the charts for four months and was everybody's favourite song. It was a song for all the girls with their long blonde hair and their eyes of blue and a song for all the boys who wanted all the girls with their long blonde hair and their eyes of blue. It - like the whole album - is just WOW. And that's just the music. Add in the cover and the packaging and it is just so, so iconic. On the back cover there is Bowie photographed by Mick Rock in a Tommy Roberts’ box-jacketed, wide-trousered suit designed by Derek Morton, who later became Sir Paul Smith’s head of menswear. Then on the front it's the Thin White Duke and Twig the Wonderkid - this time photographed by Justin De Villeneure, Twiggy's then boyfriend. How we gazed at that photo. Seventies Twiggy all tanned and gorgeous and all of us down at Chris Ball's hairdressers armed with a copy of the album trying to get the crop. Happy days. The iconic photo was in fact originally intended for the cover of English Vogue magazine after De Villeneure was commissioned by Bea Miller, the London editor , to photograph a cover of Twiggy and David Bowie together. However, De Villeneure ended up giving the picture to Bowie to use on the PinUps cover instead, saying in 1999: "Twiggy and I were in Los Angeles when Aladdin Sane had just been released.  We heard Twiggy's name come over the radio in David's song Drive In Saturday.  I had just photographed a couple of Vogue covers and I thought it would be a good idea for David to be on a cover with Twiggy.  He would be the first man on a Vogue cover.  I called him in France.  He loved the idea and arranged a photo-session.  When he saw the finished picture he asked if he could use it for his album sleeve.  I said to him "I've just flown to Paris for Vogue especially to do their cover."  Then I asked David "How many albums do you sell?  He said "About a million, hopefully." Vogue would sell about 80,000 copies in the UK. I owned the picture, so I let him have it. I was a little arrogant then!  Vogue didn't talk with me for years after.  They were very angry.  I knew that I had made the right decision giving David the photograph when months later I was driving through Los Angeles and I saw a 60-foot billboard of the album cover on Sunset Boulevard." Of course, like all good modernists Bowie moved on. Through various incarnations, numerous new characters and many music styles but at the heart of it he was still Davy Jones from Brixton. He was always in and out of Soho, still referencing the sixties, still listening to the groups that played the Marquee and Eel Pie Island whilst always wearing sharp suits. A Mod 'til his final day doing - as The Who proclaimed and he interpreted on Pinups, "Anything for something new. Anyway, anyhow, anywhere" he chose. #BOWIEFOREVER   This article first appeared in the magazine Sharpen Up

[eileyhq]

❛ ✶ ( CINDY KIMBERLY , CISFEMALE , SHE/HER )  —  did you see EILEY RIVERA walking around campus earlier ? i hear a lot of people talking about the TWENTY-TWO year old JUNIOR . from what i know , they are studying PRE-MED and are a part of SIGMA EPSILON CHI . they come across as + SACCHARINE but also - HYPERSENSITIVE , which makes since because on their instagram ( @EILEYS ) it says they are a CANCER . when i see them , i think of LAYERED GOLD NECKLACES, ODDLY SPECIFIC SPOTIFY PLAYLISTS, FLOWY SUNDRESSES, SMALL HIDDEN TATTOOS, & STARGAZING ON A SUMMER NIGHT . the most interesting thing i’ve heard about them though , is the fact that [ REDACTED ] , but don’t tell anyone i told you that .

i am soooooooo sorry this is soooo late. it’s always when i join rps that things come up 🥴

hey hi hello!!! i’m ur local Hot Mess™, brenna lol. i’m so excited for this rp and to have eiley in this lil group bc i’ve honestly always seen her as a Sorority Girl™ and i finally have a space to play that out :’~) hit me up for plots on discord!!! i’m sometimes bad at replying (i get distracted easy lol) so if i don’t message back, feel free to send another message! im so sorry i rlly am i mess :~) DISCORD: ʙʀᴇɴɴᴀ#7518

♡ QUICK STATS ♡

NAME: eiley sofía rivera

FACECLAIM: cindy kimberly

PRONOUNS: she/her

SEXUALITY: heterosexual (unfortunately)

AGE: twenty-two

BIRTHDAY: july 4, 1998

ZODIAC: cancer

♡ BASICS ♡

eiley is originally from weston, ma -- one of the richest towns in massachusetts that’s only twenty-ish minutes east of beaumont university.

her parents are both graduates of beaumont university, both with doctorates in the medical field. that being said, with the combination of their salaries, they’ve got quite the wealth -- and that’s just outside the inherited wealth from each of her parents’ families. that being said, eiley lived quite comfortably.

growing up, eiley cheered competitively and did so throughout most of high school when a rotator cuff injury put her out for her senior season. she did the little cheers on the sidelines of games, but was benched for the competitive season. after her surgery, she just decided to not go back nor pursue collegiate cheer, but to delve into her studies.

she was inspired by both of her parents’ careers that she made it her dream too and pursued that full-speed ahead, even attending the same university that they did after taking a gap year. during her gap year, she gained a lot of popularity on instagram from all of her traveling, thus now gaining the title “instagram model”, but she really doesn’t identify too closely with that. it’s just something she does for fun (with some monetary gain). school & becoming a doctor are ranked higher on her list of priorities than instagram is.

when she got to beaumont, she rushed sigma epsilon chi to be apart of the sisterhood her mother was too apart of. the lifestyle and atmosphere just seemed to feel like home. being a legacy, it was really easy for eiley to be a part of it.

eiley’s first year at beaumont was life-changing. when she started that fall, she had no idea how drastic her life would be as by that thanksgiving break, she would discover she was about 9 weeks pregnant. admittedly, eiley was quite open with her own sexuality and didn't shy away from landing in strangers. if you ask anyone, eiley doesn’t know who the father is and that was a lot for her family to take in. being their only daughter, they had high expectations and pregnancy out of wedlock was not one of them. by the time the baby came that june, they were accepting. she was mostly glad that her sorority sisters helped her through everything and were supportive. that only made her bond with her sisters closer. 

now that her daughter, catalina, is over a year old, they’ve come up with a routine that’s helped everyone out. although eiley would rather be with her baby all the time, she’s pushing through to her doctorate with the help of her family and full-time nanny. about 5 days of the week she sees her baby, whether it be for an hour or for a weekend.

♡ PERSONALITY ♡

she’s such a kind and gentle soul that would genuinely never hurt anyone intentionally. however, once her mind is made up, that’s what she’ll stick to and she’ll try to let you down in the nicest way possible.

DO NOT BE FOOLED BY HER SWEETNESS & KINDNESS!!! if you piss her off enough, she will snap quick and hard while maintaining a calm demeanor (she’ll cry later). her words can be as soft as silk or crack like a whip. don’t cross her.

she’s a very sentimental person. she has a box of things (key chains, post cards, polaroids, etc.) that she likes to keep under her bed and add to whenever something, she feels, memorable happens. her walls are filled of photos of her family, friends, & sorority sisters.

she loves literally every genre of music except classical & heavy metal, BUT even then she’ll sit & listen to it if that’s what you’d like to listen to. currently she’s into more of a 70′s style of soft rock, but she loves listening to pop radio.

she’s no stranger to that good kush™ . she prefers edibles, but is always down for a smoke sesh. anything past weed, she’s not interested in trying.

eiley grew up going to sporting events due to having three sporty brothers, so you’re likely to find her at some of the sporting events if she has the time. although she was a cheerleader and football is expected to be her favorite, you’re most likely to see her at hockey matches or baseball games 

AESTHETIC: gold necklaces, oddly specific spotify playlists, strawberries, white daisies, flowy floral sundresses, vintage polaroid camera, small tattoos, lace bralettes, stacked rings, glitter gel pens, niche mugs as makeup brush holders, fresh peaches, fairy lights, denim jackets with patches, tousled hair, shopping sprees, glass coca-cola bottles, stark white air force ones, vinyl records, succulents, blush pink, oversized hoodies as dresses, big eyeshadow palettes, fluffy slippers, sunny spring days, stilettos, athleisure, rose water, sugar cookies fresh from the oven, big diamond earrings, sunrises, drinking wine from the bottle

♡ WANTED CONNECTIONS ♡

i have i plot page here!!! <333

here u can find a lil page about eiley n all her things (links to a stats page, muse tag, & pinterest board!!

hmu cuties!!! again, super sorry this is so late!!!! & if there’s typos i swear im not illiterate 

[happymetalgirl]

July 2020

Machine Head - Civil Unrest

On this two-song EP, Robb Flynn once again leans into spur-of-the-moment inspiration in an effort to jolt Machine Head out of the creative fatigue that plagued the polarizing Catharsis, but unfortunately the approach that didn’t really work for “Volatile” doesn’t really work for “Stop the Bleeding” or “Bulletproof”, and it all adds up upon the revelation that these songs are constructed from scraps off the Catharsis kitchen floor. Robb’s finger is on the pulse of the tension underlying American politics and his heart is in the right place (which I commend him for his steadfastness to in the face of the apparently sizable chud subset of Machine Head’s fanbase), he just needs to take his delivery a little off the nose. Of the two songs, “Bulletproof” is definitely the stronger and more hard-hitting, while the goofy 2000′s metalcore melodicism of “Stop the Bleeding” meshes poorly with the grim subject matter Robb attaches to the track. In the grand scheme of Machine Head’s career, this EP (and the two non-album singles that preceded it last year) is disappointing filler that does nothing to lift the band out of the dry creative well they’ve found themselves in.

5/10

Khemmis - More Songs About Death, Vol. 1

A much more solid two-track EP, Khemmis’ More Songs About Death, Vol. 1 is comprised of a groovy cover of Misfits’ “Skulls” and an acoustic rendition of the folk song, “A Conversation with Death”, that the band had covered electrically for a split they did with Spirit Adrift. The band adapt well to the more original acoustic style of the latter song, as soulful as ever even with acoustic subtlety replacing their open-hearted doom metal. As for the Misfits cover, the band apply their signature harmonic doom guitar work to give it a signature seal while adhering to the core foundation of the song, and they show that the song does take to their brand of doom quite well. After Desolation and being signed to Nuclear Blast, Khemmis sure were excited to get working on their fourth LP. Now that of course sits on the list of many projects the pandemic has forcefully postponed, but these kinds of offerings and the band’s hinting that they might just come out of this with two albums’ worth of material is helping make the wait a little more bearable. Thank you as always, Khemmis.

more respect to Khemmis/10

Inter Arma - Garbers Days Revisited

Coming off the back of their magnum opus, Sulphur English, Inter Arma’s offering to hold the quarantined world over until the band’s next opus is a quick (by their standards) covers album of metal and hardcore classics, as well as some surprising classic and southern rock tunes. And the band manage the eight diverse songs with an impressive display of two-way adaptability. Turning “The Girl Who Lives on Heaven Hill” into a blackgaze blast-beat fest and “Scarecrow” and into a crushing blackened sludge-doom epic while layering their atmospheric black metal smoothly over the old-school rock grooves of Neil Young’s “Southern Man” Inter Arma show an aptitude for selecting cover songs that fit their style. It sure helps that they’re a versatile act too, bending their mammothian heaviness to suit the core appeal of covers of Cro-Mags’ “Hard Times”, Nine Inch Nails’ “March of the Pigs”, and Venom’s “In League with Satan” while shedding all that sludge to expose their southern rock roots on (slightly) more stripped back tunes like “Runnin’ Down a Dream” and Prince’s “Purple Rain” (a closer so fittingly beautiful it seems almost unfair), which find them embellishing soulfully and clearly enjoying themselves in the studio. A lineup of tracks like this would make be nervous for whatever band was trying to tackle them, but Inter Arma prove that can shapeshift back to their southern roots just as well as they can bulldoze as needed to do their own justice to these several tracks, making for one of the best cover albums I’ve heard for a while.

8/10

This Will Destroy You - Vespertine

Serving as a soundtrack project for a highly rated California This Will Destroy You seemingly took a long time with this project, having released the “Kitchen” single in 2017 under the same premise. The album is entirely ambient, and not quite as experimental with glitchy electro-ambiance as projects like Tunnel Blanket or Another Language were. Instead, Vespertine highlights the serene/somber atmospheric foundation of the band’s post-metal/rock sound that made the Young Mountain EP and their self-titled LP such transcendent experiences and exemplary advocates for post-rock upon their release. And it’s a great display of just how the band’s discernible ambient style can shine through even such a minimal approach. It is basic ambient music for sure, no additives, but it’s unmistakably This Will Destroy You to those who know them, and it hearkens back to some of their best work, so I see it as a welcome addition to the band’s catalog.

7/10

Static-X - Project Regeneration, Vol. 1

Rebooted in honor of Wayne Static after his untimely passing in 2017 the original line-up and Dope frontman Edsel Dope behind a mask resembling the late singer and the pseudonym Xer0, Static-X return after over a decade of radio silence since 2009′s Cult of Static to mesh the final recordings of Wayne Static for the band with contributions from Xer0 on the first of two volumes of new material under this premise of paying tribute. Despite the lengthy absence and the loss of the band’s central creative force, the album is a mostly smooth transition from Cult of Static with some callbacks to the electro industrial metal of earlier albums like Shadow Zone and Machine. While it captures the essence of Static-X across its 39-minute track list with a handful of hard-hitting industrial nu metal bangers, Project Regeneration - Vol. 1 is a bit of a dry recount of the band’s legacy, and I hope the band saved the better chunk of songs for the second installment.

6/10

An Autumn for Crippled Children - All Fell Silent, Everything Went Quiet

An Autumn for Crippled Children is an anonymous Dutch trio who are helping to keep the blackgaze movement going with their eighth full-length album here. The band released their seventh not long ago in 2018, but this year’s is my introduction to the band, which has been a pleasant one. All Fell Silent, Everything Went Quiet is a moderately sized offering of heartfelt blackgaze as you know it from the likes of Deafheaven and Ghost Bath channeled through more second-wave-like stylings of the Norwegian black metal scene; so it sounds kind of like if Mayhem made more open-hearted music rather than deflected edginess through Satan-worshipping (not to shit on Mayhem or anything). There is more to this album, however, than just diluted or lo-fi Deafheaven worship; through the haze of the band’s fuzzy blackgaze is some pretty dynamic songwriting and impressive. More than just soaking distorted guitars in reverb and juxtaposing blackmetal screams with post-rock ambiance, An Autumn for Crippled Children capture some of that emotional diversity that makes blackgaze at its best (...Sunbather) so divinely captivating. And the spacious beauty the band conjures out of the negative space in the static-y guitars and thin percussion on songs like “Water’s Edge”, “Paths”, and the title track is surprisingly enveloping, but the standout cut on the album I’d say is the very unashamedly Ghost-Bath-y “Silver” for its overt heartfelt delivery with every instrument and its integration of what even sounds like a piano. I doubt this would convert many black metal purists who idolize Burzum and Darkthrone. In fact I bet this album would upset them even more than New Bermuda, but for those without a stick up their ass, looking for some juicy blackgaze with a different set of ingredients than your Harakiri for the Sky or Wolves in the Throne Room, this is some good shit.

8/10

Bury Tomorrow - Cannibal

I gave this one a good several tries because 2018’s Black Flame grew on me significantly after my incredibly underwhelmed first couple of listens, but sadly Cannibal strikes melodic metalcore gold far less often than its predecessor and finds Bury Tomorrow knee deep in the unflattering tropes that the genre is trying to shake off. With a pretty one-note approach to melodicism that results in a largely homogeneously flat emotional tone across the album, it’s definitely a step down from the emboldened and invigorated Black Flame that negates any sense of the band’s ambition that that album might have given off. I can point out “Better Below” and the brief breakdown on “Gods & Machines” as mild highlights in the tracklist, but they only really stand out because the rest of the surrounding tracks are so dry. I’d like to say that things just didn’t click this time or that some experiments just didn’t pan out, but it’s quite clearly just the lack of imagination and ambition that sinks this project deep into the background of forgettable metalcore, and I know this band can do better.

4/10

Kansas - The Absence of Presence

They’re hardly even metal-adjacent but for their sizable contribution to the 70′s prog rock movement that such a huge proportion of metalheads are into, a new Kansas album I suppose counts as on-topic for this blog. The band returned after a decade and a half of absence with a stuttering restart without iconic vocalist Steve Walsh on 2016′s The Prelude Implicit, and it was clear that they needed to do more than yearn for glory days to get the gears back in motion, so with The Absence of Presence the band’s new blood has stepped up to the plate to inject some freshness into the band’s compositional process. The band still sticks to that core violin-spiced prog rock that characterized their iconic 70′s albums, but the structuring and soloing style (especially the keys) are a bit more modernized than the band’s past work, and by modern I mean what Dream Theater sounded like in the 2000′s. Make no mistake, though, it’s an improvement on The Prelude Implicit, and it highlights the band’s talents and natural grandiose tendencies far more than the radio rock singles they’re most widely known for, and the cinematic bridge of the opening title track is sturdy proof of this. It’s a testament to the influence they have had on modern prog through the genre’s biggest bands like Dream Theater, and perhaps a testament to the two-wayedness of that street as well as fun, bombastic tunes like “Throwing Mountains” sound like they would fit easily on something like A Dramatic Turn of Events or as a break from all the melancholy on a Steven Wilson project. The album does wear a little thin on ballads like “Memories Down the Line”, but it makes up for its duller moments with plenty of exuberant prog expressiveness on most of the songs (the closing track being probably the standout example), which should be a good time for most of the band’s fans who fondly remember albums like Masque and Monolith, and any newer prog fans who may not be aware of the band’s influence on today’s prog metal.

7/10

Haken - Virus

Speaking of respectable modern prog though, Haken’s aptly named album this year serves as quite the easy bar to clear for prog metal so far this decade. I regretfully missed out on their 2018 sister album, Vector, but I am partially mending that ill by covering Virus here. Like I said earlier, it’s a solid record that captures the smoothness and tempered heaviness of Soen and the attitude of early Opeth with the angularity of Tool, but even if it ends up being the year’s best prog metal album, I don’t think it will be too long before one of the genre’s juggernauts (or even exciting new faces) kamehamehas this one away. The album starts out pretty solid in its first few tracks, but remains pretty meager and restrained in its explosiveness until midway through the album, relying on rather short bursts of typical prog heaviness like the opening of “Prosthetic”, whose rumbly bassline is a delicious highlight amongst the Townsend-esque choir implementation. The ten-minute “Carousel” ups the band’s expressiveness after the deceptive soothe of the second track with a clash of goth-y ambiance and pounding metallic bombast. The five-part “Messiah Complex” suite finds the band at their most adventurous, straddling the winding mid-song compositional whirl of Dream Theater with the occasional eccentricity and djenty heaviness of producer Nolly’s former band Periphery, the band still sound themselves and confident in every move they make, like true prog masters, ending beautifully on the two-minute “Only Stars”. I think it might end up being the year’s best straight-up prog metal album, and the band have worked hard to earn that honor, but I would honestly be surprised if someone else or Haken themselves don’t outdo it within a year. That’s to take away from what an exciting 52 minutes of prog this is, because with such a moderate runtime for such a tight prog album, it’s definitely deserving of the respect of a top album in its field.

8/10

Skeleton - Skeleton

Even though I tend to end up liking them, I find myself skeptical of projects whose aesthetic feels forcedly retro or whose marketing is focused heavily on nostalgia, and the self-titled debut from the Austin-based trio, Skeleton, complete with its intentionally cheesy and amateurish cover art, definitely checked those boxes. I even got the sense from 20 Buck Spin (being that I’m on their mailing list and follow their accounts and all) that they were more excited than usual to be releasing the trio’s debut. And honestly, after a few listens through of not being all too aroused by the crusty proto-death metal at the core of the band’s sound, the traditional heavy metal focus on infectious guitar riffs helped the album grow on me a good bit. The stylistic versatility of the guitar playing really is the cornerstone of the album, from the Kill ‘Em All-style riffs on “Taste of Blood” and early Sepultura-esque galloping on “At War” to the blackened punk grit of “A Far Away Land” and the even more catchy classic metal riffs on “Turned to Stone” and the melancholic old-school doom atmosphere on “Ring of Fire”. The snarled black metal vocals are gnarly in that old-school sense, throaty and raspy but kind of cheesily thin too to fit with the aesthetic the band are going for, and it’s a pretty similar story with the drums: not flashy at all by today’s standards but just right to supplement the guitar work and complete the vibe. And of course with 11 tracks not even grazing the half hour mark, the songs are pretty trim and compositionally bare bones, falling into quick, crust punk formats foregoing the typical verse-chorus paradigm. Yes, Skeleton has grown on me, and I’m curious to see if they end up expanding this sound like Ghost did from Opus Eponymous to stay creatively fresh or if they plan to draw from the long-abandoned (or less frequented) wells of musical elements they did on this album for the foreseeable future.

7/10

Burzum - Thulêan Mysteries

I know that in a lot of circles (including some I consider myself a part of), saying something even vaguely positive about Burzum invites a wave of disapproval for supporting (or at the very least, excusing) the black metal world’s most notorious villain’s racism, but I can’t say with a straight that Varg Vikernes didn’t play a huge part in shaping Norwegian black metal as we know it or that I don’t like Filosofem or Hvis lyset tar oss. I don’t think that amounts to supporting the guy’s racist bullshit, and luckily Varg has made it pretty easy not to support his racist bullshit because Burzum has been shit for a long long time now; in fact I’d say Filosofem was the last worthwhile Burzum album, with his pathetically bad ambient records during and after his time in prison and the three stale black metal albums that welcomed him back from prison. After such a weak return to music from prison and Burzum’s discontinuation-turned-hiatus, it seemed overdue that Varg finally retire the Burzum project after the unimaginative ambiance of The Ways of Yore. I mean the project has thoroughly emulated the trope of the white guy who views everything he touches as way more genius than anyone else does, which is pretty rich for a guy so willing to dismiss the current black metal scene as derivative, and he’s seemed more invested in whatever it is he’s been doing on YouTube or his blog. Nevertheless, Varg remains an infamous figure in metal probably to a lot of dudes who think there’s some esoteric genius to decode in his lore, to an extent I find kinda disturbing. The weird reverence a lot of the metal community has for the neo-nazi murderer’s cult of personality (the vast majority of whose discography is masturbatory throwaway doodling) is astounding. So this guy’s back, with an hour and a half of, by his own account, ambient scraps of dungeon synth music that he built up over an extended period of time and basically figured he’d compile into an album (because, like I said, everything he touches must be gold in his eyes), and goddamn it sure sounds like exactly what he pitches it as. The first track, “The Sacred Well”, is actually pretty soothing and decent helping of ethereal ambient music, but it doesn’t take long for things to go downhill. The annoyingly repetitive acoustic motif of “ForeBears” and the absolutely amateurish improvised piano plinking of “A Thulêan Perspective” quickly shed light on just how lazily patched together this thing is, while the subsequent “Gathering of Herbs” literally cuts off awkwardly like the full track didn’t upload fully. A few tracks like “Jötunnheimr” and “The Road to Hel” offer some fleeting promise in their eeriness, but they disappear as quickly as most of the tracks here do, in a flash of confusion as clearly incomplete ideas piled into an album for no reason that even Varg can justify. The last third of the album contains some of the longer tracks, but the swapping of fragments of half-assed keyboard doodles for half-assed demos spread thinner than tissue paper is a trade-off akin to the upcoming general election and it’s too little and way too late. I have to highlight the laughably farty synthesizer horns on “Ruins of Dwarfmount”; I mean thank god it’s quick because it’s absolutely awful, but the chuckle I get out of how bad it is is probably the best experience I have from this whole album. Just about everything on here is some combination of irritatingly repetitive, blatantly incomplete, or grossly unprofessional, and the thing that gets me is that it’s not like ambient music or dungeon synth is any sort of rocket science. I’m not at all the kind of music genius Varg’s weird devotees see him to be, but given the same equipment, even I could undoubtedly make a better ambient album than this. Although I’m not nearly as well-versed in ambient music as I am in metal, I have heard enough of a chunk of it to say I know the good shit and the bad shit, but honestly, this album is a new low for me. I didn’t know an ambient album could suck this much. It’s like an extended Daudi Baldrs with a slightly better keyboard, but with no excuse this time for the cheapness of the sound and certainly not the length. Yeah, piece of shit.

2/10

Boris - NO

Tokyo’s prolific sonic shapeshifters have all but given up on giving up, and I suppose the title of this year’s record summarizes their brief questioning of if they stop making music. The band’s first intended farewell album, Dear, which found them (not really) bowing out to the sorrowful drone doom of their most iconic record (Pink), was followed them by last year’s LφVE & EVφL, which saw them revisiting various shades of their career as comfortably as ever. NO finds the power trio on another stylistic tour of sorts, this time through some of their heaviest and most grimy territory, starting from brooding sludge doom to spending most of the album on Slayer-esque thrash and hardcore punk ripe with gritty attitude. The production is thick and nasty as is usually best for Boris, but the writing on this record is just kind of absent-minded for such a stylistically varied project. While the more drony opener, “Genesis”, rides its runtime well on the raw heaviness that the band put the pure simplicity of their slow groove through, the farther the band step away from their wheelhouse, the more apparent sparseness becomes of the more underwritten songs like the meatheadedly punky “Kikinoue” and “Fundamental Error”. We get some crushing riffs like that on “Anti-Gone”, but also some clumsy wailing about like on the song “Lust” that calls into question the effort Boris put in at the drawing board. The sheer power is there, but it’s being used generally inefficiently on a sizeable portion of NO. Still, it’s pretty cool to hear Boris at this pace, and the pure energy they pour into this project is enough to get the job done.

7/10

Tuscoma - Discourse

Tuscoma’s follow-up to the wildly eccentric Arkhitecturenominus is gets off to a slow start with its rather generic churn of blowtorch-blackened post-metal through its first two tracks and is short on risks for the reputably ambitious duo, but Discourse does eventually kick in to dig deep to tap as much of the frightful potential of the band’s sound and showcases a decent example of what the New Zealanders are known for and of lies out in left-field of post-metal.

6/10

Executioner’s Mask - Despair Anthems

Making their debut as a collective for Profound Lore, the quintet of seasoned post-punk creatives embark on an eccentric voyage through darkwave on a ship of modern gothic rock, and the results are as fascinating as they sound on paper, recalling the cerebral ritualism of Children of God-era Swans as much as the energetically veiled despair of Type O Negative and AFI while dipping the rock elements into the industrial side of darkwave every now and then. And again, the product is an effortless immersiveness into the record’s moody journey, not through atmosphere-building, but through the infectiousness of the goth dance numbers take you on. It’s certainly more of a metal-adjacent album than a bonafide metal album, but the way the band captures the despair they set out to is as effective through more subtly seething means as DSBM’s best, and the band’s adventurousness with their sonic palette alone makes for an interesting listen, or several, as I will certainly be giving this project more than its fair share of my ears.

8/10

Ensiferum - Thalassic

Very similar to Amon Amarth’s longtime solidification of their sound, the Finnish talents seem able to simply exhale exhilaration through their both tried-and-true and continually honed black-reinforced power folk metal. And it’s clear the band are on autopilot at least to some degree on Thalassic here because the writing is pretty homogeneous and formulaic nearly all the way through; that being said, the sheer energy of the band’s performances into a sound experience allows them to wield so effortlessly more than carries them across the seas they sing of.

7/10 

Bedsore - Hypnagogic Hallucinations

Stepping out from the shadows of Italy to present the great big world of metal with their forty-minute debut-album, the four-piece on the 20 Buck Spin label make their grand atmospheric aspirations for their brand of death metal immediately known across seven tracks of hellish wails and haunted ambiance. Taking ominous clean guitar motif-writing and structuring influence from Neurosis to the point of uncannily resembling “Souls at Zero” on the second track, “The Gate, Closure (Sarcoptes Obitus)”, Bedsore still inject plenty of their own distorted flair into the cavernous death-metal-flavored howl they espouse on Hypnagogic Hallucinations. The band do bank rather heavily on the immersiveness of the atmosphere they try to conjure, leaving a blind spot in the album’s dynamic beyond the fluctuations between clean and distorted nightmare. Compositional shortcomings aside, this is a solid debut to set the Italians on a bright prospective future.

7/10

Spirit Possesion - Spirit Possesion

Blackened thrash metal is one of those smaller subgenres within metal that feels more like a niche occupied by a few stalwarts like Aura Noir, Goatwhore, and Deströyer 666, but now Spirit Possession is making the bid to join those ranks and potentially turn more spotlight onto the specifically hybridized style. The band’s self-titled debut brims with the thrash enthusiasm of Bathory and the old-school riffing that shaped the way the early progenitors of black metal composed theirs, and not only is the Portland duo’s riff-game on point, but goddamn does it sound savory and spicy as hell through the more flattering production and against the backdrop of modern black metal a la Watain. The nasty chug on the song “Swallowing Throne” really highlights the benefit of the thicker, tastier production. The exceptionally grand “Amongst Inverted Castles and Holy Laughter” is a fine example of the band straddling old and new with impressive flexibility, while the bulk of the album's indulgence into early black metal and thrash is impossible not to want to indulge with, like a really fun party with a good crowd that makes it so much easier to have a few more drinks than you originally intended to.

8/10

Defeated Sanity - The Sanguinary Impetus

Through just enough delicious riffing,  memorable accentuation, and technicality on par with Dying Fetus packed into structurally creative bite-sized portions, brutal death metal stalwarts Defeated Sanity somehow make a pretty persuasive take-it-or-leave-it case for the genre.

7/10

Paysage d’Hiver - Im Wald

The boldly two-hour debut double-album from Paysage d’Hiver is also a bit of a double-edged sword, basing partly its very ethereal black metal atmosphere on the homemade sound that regularly kneecaps the grander feel the project is going for. And the album does indeed reach some soaring heights of blizzard-stung ambiance, which the biting sound of the tinny, but engaged, percussion and the vexed swooning of the tremolo-picked guitar playing across the album’s several indeed well-organized lengthy tracks. It takes a lot to trudge through the long path covered in thick snow that this album sets out on, and the lo-fi production often doesn’t help the individual elements that make Im Wald enjoyable stand out, and it can be all too easy to get lost in the homogeneous whitewash of the hazy winter wind. It’s a rewarding journey to finally make it all the way through with unbroken attention, but blame for the easiness of that attention being lapsed can at least partially be placed on the shoulders of Paysage d’Hiver for its mastermind’s one-note approach to an otherwise well-arranged and well-composed album.

7/10

Gaerea - Limbo

Despite the members’ faceless appearances behind their fully-covering black cloth masks, Gaerea’s music does not hold back its sorrowful outpour through heavy atmospheric black metal that crashes through and drowns like torrential flood waves as much as it tears at the heartstrings through unabashed languishing. The massive weight of the band’s sound invokes the feeling of being in the presence of an incarnate deity weeping at the ills of mankind and the destruction they have forced this deity to bring about. Abstract descriptors of the album’s experience aside, the band aren’t really doing too much new for the atmospheric black metal they’re making, not breaking any rules or pushing any boundaries, but everything that makes the genre so attractive is turned up to eleven. I was ready to be as critical as ever, but I could immediately see not long into my first listen why Season of Mist were so excited to hype up the Portuguese outfit’s incredibly accomplished sophomore release. The guitar playing is simultaneously powerful and beautiful, much like that of the Ulcerate album from earlier this year (Stare into Death and Be Still) that I also loved, and the drumming is just as ceaselessly thunderous in support. The lamenting screamed vocals are possibly the least exaggerated facet of the album, but certainly not the the point of being unfitting, in fact they fit the chaotically despondent mood quite well, or a detriment to the record’s overall barrage of mourning. As for how all these massive pieces are arranged, they all crash in synchronized waves in a fashion, again, not at all unfamiliar to anyone who’s heard blackgaze, but the raw passion of the band’s performances exemplify why this strategy is so widely adopted for atmospheric black metal. Gaerea have made quite the statement of intent on this one, and I will definitely be enjoying it repeatedly throughout the year and beyond.

9/10

Upon a Burning Body - Built from War

Upon a Burning Body went full Lamb of God last year with their very trim and direct 31-minute fifth LP, Southern Hostility, focusing their efforts on making their southern brand of groovy deathcore as tastily whiskey-soaked as possible, laying on the groove heavily and unrestrained in a way that I thought definitely worked in their favor. Just a year later, the band are back with a 17-minute addendum to their infectiously brash display of muscular bravado, and it’s pretty much as brutishly intense as expected as the band bounce through single-string grooves and ripping drum rhythms to the same conclusions they did last year, only this time it feels so much more fatigued, like they’re trying to artificially replicate this genuinely pissed off attitude that produced results for them despite just not being in that kind of headspace at the moment. The songs are pretty baseline for them and generic as fuck, missing that X factor that made Southern Hostility’s distilled rage so tangible and fun. Built from War has some of the staple features that made its predecessor such a good time, but despite its few high-energy moments across the five tracks, it feels like an unnecessary rehash of the lightning in a whiskey bottle they had last year, just no lightning, so empty whisky bottles that bear the smell to remind you of what was previously in them.

5/10

The Acacia Strain - Slow Decay

I have been pretty harsh on The Acacia Strain in the past; they haven’t come up much on my blog, but the times they have, I feel I’ve been a little overly critical of their use of elements that I’ve perceived as excessive that they’ve used to forge their recognizable sound. The band released a mini album (It Comes in Waves) on Closed Casket Activities just before last year was over and I didn’t even hear it until a few months in to this year, and honestly, I wasn’t all too broken up about it because it was some of the band’s most lethargic, meandering material to date; dragging aimlessly until the last two tracks of the album, a significant step down from 2017′s already middle-of-the-road Gravebloom. So with those albums in recent memory I was kind of not looking forward to Slow Decay all too much, but a few days before its release, I refreshed myself on the band’s 2014 album, Coma Witch, which I remember as a culmination of what The Acacia Strain had been trying to morph their horrific, hardcore-tinged deathcore into since Continent, and it was a great time, that album, and it made me a little more hopeful for the band’s tenth LP (if you count It Comes in Waves). And Slow Decay indeed has The Acacia Strain back on track after the stuttering of the past two releases. The burgeoning metallic hardcore movement over the past few years has certainly vindicated The Acacia’s Strain’s steadfast adherance to their hardcore roots, and with there really being no time like the present for that kind of energy, the stars’ aligning has indeed brought the best out of The Acacia Strain. And on Slow Decay, it’s not like the band have changed up their hardcore-driven approach to djenty deathcore all too much from what they did on Coma Witch, they just sound energgized through a good batch of songs this time, the many situations at hand showing their influence on the rage the ban draws from bleeding through the lyrics ranging from critiquing anti-vaccine sentiments to blasting the snobbishly entitled attitude of boomers. The fiery disdain for the state of the world comes through hard on the blood-pumping chug of “Crippling Poison”, the punchy, pissed-off groove of “Inverted Person”, and the rest of the dissonant horror-tinged riffing all across the album, and it just goes to show that The Acacia Strain have found a groove that works for them and when they have the right fuel for their fire, they can incinerate anything in sight. 

8/10

Imperial Triumphant - Alphaville

After revolutionizing the method of jazzification of metal music on 2018’s Vile Luxury, I was ready for a satisfying continuation of jazzy death metal from Imperial Triumphant, but I was not prepared for the wildness of the band’s ambition with their sound and beyond and the incredible success of their sonic expansion on Alphaville. The band are still jazzy as fuck on their successor to Vile Luxury but they’re not advertising it as blatantly like a product-placed soda can this time around, partially because they can’t with so much else going on in the nightmarish mix of sounds. The combination of dissonant grand piano chords over palm-muted chugging and merciless blast-beats on “City Swine” is perhaps the most overt example of the trio’s love for the traditional sounds of the type of jazz often associated with the big apple, but the palpable jazz influence in the winding guitar lines and dizzying drumming all across Alphaville continues to set Imperial Triumphant apart even within their wing of metal’s avant-garde. Indeed, their sound reaches beyond mere genre hybridization; the band incorporates various avant-garde elements in an experimental, yet clearly well-engineered manner all over the album. From the haunting fuzzy dissonance and disorienting electronics of the title track and the odd inclusion of taiko drumming by Meshuggah’s Tomas Haake to the gloriously frightful choir climaxes on both “Atomic Age” and “Transmission to Mercury”, Alphaville is full of surprises, and a size-able step forward for a band already bounds ahead of the curve on their previous album.

9/10