#I have been listening to this LP on repeat for days

[goodbysunball]

Cement mixer blues

A couple more for your March, with Opening Day right around the corner. Four picks, all hits, and more waiting in the wings - but until then:

Thomas Bush, The Next 60 Years LP (Jolly Discs)

Album number three from Thomas Bush, one carving his own path through the history of quietly devastating British folk. That Bush has much to do with "folk" in general is debatable at this point, but there are fractured fragments within his damaged, precise compositions. On The Next 60 Years, he refines his vision further, not solely through reduction (though that, too) but with a bit of surprising bombast on the B-side. "Same Life Flowed" opens the album with plodding pop, the double-tracked vocals opening up just enough during the chorus to complement the harpsichord melody, and runs into the pensively dueling guitars on the accurately named "Pure Intention." As is Bush's wont, the album never keeps a straight course after this beautiful opening; some songs, like "Mulligan" or "Flood of Light," creak like floorboards in an empty house, whereas "Face In the Water" jumps out of the speakers from behind the curtain. I've never pieced together any influence of Talk Talk or Mark Hollis on Bush's sound, but now it's crystal on "Burn Clear," the patiently brushed cymbals and pattering drums pairing with slowly ringing chords, all directed by Bush's carefully delivered vocals. The samples on "Burn Clear" get turned inside-out on "Face In the Water," its booming synth chords leaving backwards bubbling loops in their wake, the distortion becoming ever more prominent as Bush's most clear, confident song unravels over its duration. The synth chords turn green midway through, and the garbled loops run rampant to cloud any pop ambitions with more unease. The album closes with the quietly devastating "Xtrails," a repeated descending progression of guitar notes and scattered synth chords, tying the album together neatly with only the necessary ingredients. In early listens, "Burn Clear" and "Face In the Water" were the highlights, but now tracks like "Thirsting" and "Xtrails" have become my favorites, the ones where Bush takes something recognizable and strips it to a skeleton and makes the bones vibrate with noise, creating a new story for the figure largely free from its past. Stunning, especially during my pre-dawn drives, but potent enough, and enveloping enough, to transport the listener from start to finish anytime. Sold out at the source, but I suspect copies will land stateside soon; if not, All Night Flight is handling the distribution - hop to it.

Contaminated, Celebratory Beheading LP (Blood Harvest)

Amidst a glut of ho-hum, self-referencing contemporary death metal, I wasn't really prepared for the complete onslaught that makes up Contaminated's second LP. I liked Final Man a lot, but things seem to have gotten a lot bleaker in the seven years since that came out, and Celebratory Beheading is the record that balls up collective agony into relentless, boneheaded death metal. It takes all of 15 seconds into opener "Suffer Minutiae" for the band to launch into a chugging breakdown riff, and even after multiple spins I feel as if I haven't captured the right words to describe music so single-mindedly brutish. There are no synths, electronics or really anything resembling a breather across the album. This new-look Contaminated feels like layers alternating between Carcass (pre-Heartwork) and Autopsy, with a dash of County Medical Examiners or other goregrind practitioner. Each song is made up of multiple movements, which is the stupid way my brain's been reduced to describing this record when it's on, but the very basic recipe is to pound with death metal crunch and follow it up with a grinding blast, before pulling back and taking another swing at your head. These parts are masterfully fused together without gaps or any recognizable structure, suffocatingly dense compositions coming one after another. Once your ears adjust, the pieces of the bulldozing sound can just barely be picked apart. The drummer's right up front with the vocals, and the two seem to goad each other on; the guitars, drenched in distortion and as beefy as I've heard (sans exterior electronic noise) in ages, churn out mercilessly hard or dizzyingly fast riffs. "Final Hours" is the point in the record where I finally catch my breath, and by "Apex C.H.U.D." (stands for Circular Headbanging Under Duress, pretty sure) you're stomping around like a sumo wrestler. Imagine running in a sewer tunnel away from a tidal wave of waste, each turn bringing no more distance or relief from the chase; at some point your legs and chest give out and you submit. I haven't looked at the included lyric sheet - the album and song titles are illustrative enough - but this seems to be the soundtrack to intentionally hammering a nail through your finger, pure visceral animal thrill, presented without concessions or interludes. My favorite record of the year so far.

Los Doroncos, Sun and Fireworks LP (An'archives)

There's nothing like the first whiff of springtime to bring me around to an album that made little sense during the dregs of the new year, and Los Doroncos' Sun and Fireworks is one for the ages. Seasoned vets with deep ties to the Japanese underground - members from Denudes, Maher Shalal Hash Baz, Doronco Gumo - but what you get here is a dream dive bar band, playing music both intimately familiar and somehow buoyant, not bogged down with expectations or concerned with much else than playin' hits. If the band set out to make classic rock feel fresh again, they nailed it, taking the scoff right outta my throat and using it to hit another solo. The band rips on the two longer tracks, "A minor" (one of the young year's best tracks) and "Drum," but elsewhere things are downright breezy. Guitars are largely unadorned until solos call for distortion, vocals are charming, paper-thin but hopeful, and the drums do enough to keep everything together. For me, any cynicism is eradicated by the beautifully disarming guitar lines littered about in "LuLu 2," but just as often it's the solo pushing its way through the clean chords of "Tin Ear." I'm in the midst of fixing up my porch, and if I get my way, I will be having a few beers back there with Sun and Fireworks elevating my mundane accomplishment. Come through.

Peg, We Know Who You Are and Everyone Is On the Lookout CS (No Rent)

Meeting of the minds between Cube's Adam Keith and Jackie-O Motherfucker's Dave Easlick, both of whom previously teamed up in SPF. I can't remember SPF's music much, though it may be time to revisit given how much I've enjoyed Peg's debut cassette. The music on We Know Who You Are feels like dub recorded without or presented without permission, as if found on a thrift store cassette, and then given added rhythm by Easlick and Keith's drumming and programming. "Mutual Percussion" is a sterling example, drums fading in and out while viscous treated guitar bubbles and the sound of a breeze or footsteps periodically emerge to confusingly give the feel of a field recording. The album feels sometimes ominous, sometimes sarcastic; the intention feels pure but you're never quite convinced with a track like "Agenda Jazz," either. Beyond sifting through the tape for intention, there's deep enjoyment here, skewering and distorting sounds in a way not unlike Equipment Pointed Ankh, though Peg's got a decidedly more abstract, glowering, smirking result. Hard to pick favorites, but if forced: the slouched strut of "Athletic Posturing"; the disarming "Everyone," all glistening synthesizer and distant drums; and my favorite, "Bog Standard," Easlick letting loose on the kit while a bassy loop and high-pitched noise build towers in the shifting sands. Really feels like these two met each other head-on this round, keeping stakes low for themselves but understanding one another intuitively to create one of last year's best albums.

[randomvarious]

Today’s compilation:

Stand Up and Be Counted: Soul, Funk and Jazz from a Revolutionary Era 1999 Funk / Soul / Spoken-Word Poetry / Jazz

Today's an important history lesson, folks. I went back to a late 60s/early 70s era of US black revolutionary politics and awareness with this CD that was put out by UK label Harmless in '99. It's those pre-disco days when a lot of black-made music was politically righteous, with scathing lyrical critiques of a still racially unequal status quo, and carried poignant, urgent, and inspirational messages that would help to raise the consciousness among black folks nationwide, as well as anyone else who was willing to listen and learn. It was a time of riotous and fiery tumult, and while this release doesn't seem to fully encapsulate or present all the most prominent songs and musicians that ended up providing the soundtrack for this very volatile handful of pivotal years—where's Sly Stone?—it's still a phenomenal album.

This CD comes with fixtures you'd expect on a release like this: James Brown's "Say It Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud," Nina Simone's "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free," and perhaps the most iconic piece of spoken-word poetry that's ever been recorded, Gil Scott-Heron's "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised." Basically, if you're putting together an album that's trying to reflect the American black struggle from this specific time period, it'd be prudent to include this particular trio of songs.

But where this album truly shines is with its overwhelming majority of selections that aren't so obvious; songs that contain the same hunger and zeal for equality, but aren't as well known to a general audience. For example, The Last Poets, a spoken-word poetry trio whose early 70s pining for immediate revolution on their self-titled debut album would lay the foundation for the creation, development, and emergence of hip hop music and culture. Their song, "When the Revolution Comes," actually sparked a response from Gil Scott-Heron with "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," and 22 years after its initial release, a repeated line towards the end of the song would find itself repurposed as the title of The Notorious B.I.G.'s debut single, "Party and Bullshit."

And also on here is a solo track from one of those Last Poets as well, Gylan Kain, whose 1970 song, "Loose Here," off of his debut LP, The Blue Guerrilla, was actually co-written by none other than the legend Nile Rodgers himself, earning him one of his first ever credits, long before he'd *really* break out with a pair of #1s on the disco tip in '78 and '79, with Chic's "Le Freak" and then "Good Times."

Truth be told, though, The Last Poets weren't actually as obscure as you may think that I might be making them out to be here; their debut album managed to sell over 350,000 copies, and it peaked at #29 on Billboard's 200 album chart, and #3 on R&B as well. It's just that, knowing about them was spread pretty much purely through word of mouth; there was certainly no big commercial engine that was driving their sales, and if you weren't black and didn't have your ears tuned to any of this sound, the likelihood that you'd catch wind of them was pretty low.

So, the most obscure song on this album, then, appears to be a funk tune from an anonymous group called The Pace-Setters, whose only ever release, a 1971 7-inch, sings the praises of social activist Jesse Jackson and his then-recently formed PUSH organization on its chugging a-side.

The rest of this CD's tunes are pretty much made up of brilliant funk, soul, and jazz entities—The Impressions, Billy Paul, Archie Shepp, and ex-Temptation Eddie Kendricks—but the album doesn't use any of their singles. All the choices are still terrific, however, especially Kendricks' "My People... Hold On," the slow, earthy, heartfelt, and mantric title track off of his 1972 sophomore album. Interestingly, the name of that album, though, actually chops off the "My" in "My People," suggesting that Motown imprint Tamla didn't want to potentially alienate any parts of its audience with such a transparent appeal to black pride and solidarity 🤔.

Another well-known group on this album is James Brown's former one, The Famous Flames, who are just credited as The Flames here. And as The Flames, they never released an album, but did put out a handful of singles, including this CD's title track, which lives up to the name of the group who made it (it's scorching!), and was produced by James Brown and released on his own label, People, in 1971.

And before I close out, I gotta mention Chicago jazz ensemble The Pharaohs too, because the penultimate track from their 1971 debut album, The Awakening, makes for a tremendous song, with astonishing traded leads between saxophone and guitar, and a constantly thick amount of busy backing behind it all as well. It would still be an amazing tune, even if it didn't have any kind of messaging to go along with it.

So, in sum, Stand Up and Be Counted is an incredible release. It really channels a very important few years of palpably churning American black fervor, and it includes some unforgettable all-timers too, but its real uniqueness is found in its many selections of non-singles, deep cuts, & relative obscurities. I really don't think you'll ever find another late 60s/early 70s black empowerment retrospective that's quite like this one here. A stunningly superb and authentic collection of tunes.

Highlights:

The Flames - "Stand Up and Be Counted" Gil Scott-Heron - "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" The Impressions - "Mighty Mighty (Spade and Whitey)" Billy Paul - "East" Mike James Kirkland - "Hang On in There" James Brown - "Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud, Parts 1 & 2" The Last Poets - "When the Revolution Comes" Pace-Setters - "Push on Jessie Jackson" Archie Shepp - "Blues for Brother George Jackson" Eddie Kendricks - "My People... Hold On" The Pharaohs - "Freedom Road" Kain - "Loose Here" Nina Simone - "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free"

[samyelbanette]

In May 2021, I saw some random shitpost saying “Finland’s Eurovision act is giving the emo kids everything they want.”

Being an MCR stan at the time, I was like hm? well, I’m an emo kid. let’s see what this is about.

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I could watch the recording of the Semifinal, legally, on Peacock. I had watched ESC once before, in 2016. But for years after that, there was no way to watch the contest in my country (at least, not without a special cable television package that I obviously didn’t have 😭). It’s never been a popular show in the United States. But.

I saw Blind Channel perform Dark Side and I immediately thought omg, they sound just like Linkin Park. I tend to think of LP as a nu-metal band, and not an emo one. But I went through a huge LP phase back in high school, so ofc I loved the song.

I demanded that my friend (who, like most Americans, had never heard of ESC up until that point) come over and watch the Grand Final with me. He went out and ordered a copy of Violent Pop the next day.

….Ironically, it took me longer to get into BC. Like. The day after ESC ended, I watched the Died Enough For You MV on YouTube, and I thought it was great. But my mind was (hyper)focused on someone else.

Måneskin won ESC 2021, and I developed an immediate special interest in them (along with a huge crush on Damiano lol). This house was in a Teatro D’Ira lockdown. I had no interest in listening to anything else but that - and Il Bello Della Vita - on repeat. I watched all the interviews and obsessively worked on a Damiano/Reader fanfic.

But then in August, something happened. My laser focus on Må began to fade. Balboa was released as a single. BC performed at Allas Sea Pool. And suddenly I was reading Niko/Joonas fics every day.

My one-track mind had switched to a different track. And there was no going back.

In October 2021, I wrote Flufftober With Blind Channel (a huge reader-insert oneshot collection). As of rn, that’s still my #1 most kudos-d fic on AO3. 😅 And then in December, I wrote my first Joeleksi fic, as part of a holiday gift exchange.

I watched Blind Channel perform on Finnish television for New Year’s Eve. And when February came, I watched them perform again at UMK 2022. I cheered for The Rasmus when they won the competition, but they never stole my heart. BC still owned it.

On March 3rd, 2022, I finally saw BC live for the first time. It was in Warrendale, Pennsylvania, on Day 1 of their tour with From Ashes To New. Their first performance on American soil.

And then on April 11th, 2022, I saw them again, at their headline show in New York City. I had the honor of meeting one of my fellow fanfic writers, pastlink! And then I met Niko and Joel after the show. 😍

It was one of the best days of my life.

Time continued to pass. ESC 2022 came and went. Kalush Orchestra were…fine. They deserved to win, but they didn’t stay on my mind after the credits rolled. Not like BC did.

LOTSAD dropped in July 2022, and it was everything I’d hoped it would be.

In October 2022, I wrote Flufftober With Blind Channel 2, this time focusing on M/M relationships.

On November 18th, 2022, I saw Måneskin live for the first time (ironic, given that I loved them first). It was at this show that I had the honor of meeting another BC writer, lnights, in person. 🖤

Then, in December 2022, I moderated my first ever fandom event - BC Blood Mass. There was some controversy in the beginning, but it ended up being a huge success. I’m still so grateful to everyone who participated.

On May 13th, 2023, the ESC Grand Finals came around again. And I finally got to do something, that I hadn’t been able to do in 2021 (or 2022): vote for Finland. 🇫🇮

On May 16th, 2023, I saw BC live for the third time, when they returned to the US and opened for Lacuna Coil. This time, I got a picture with Joel, Joonas, Olli, and Aleksi. It ended up on Joel’s Instagram story, and when I checked my notifications the next day, I got emotional.

Dozens of people from Finland and Germany and other places around the world, who I would’ve never encountered without this silly band, were saying:

Look. That’s Kelley. We know her. She’s our friend.

….And now it’s September. Goddamn. I’ve been in this fandom for two years now. I’ve written thirty-four BC fics. And I’ve made so many amazing friends. There have been many times where y’all have been kinder to me than my own family. I’m so happy to have gotten to know all of y’all.

…And there’s still more to come!!!

BC Blood Mass is coming back for December 2023. BC’s fifth album is going to drop sometime in 2024.

I can’t wait to see where this Wolfpack takes me next. 🐺🇫🇮🖤

[mooncatmelodies]

Beyond The Charts: Music you missed in 2023

The year 2024 is finally here. 2023 was a particular year for music, So many incredible releases  such as Lil Yachty’s Let's Start Here, all the way to the latest Danny Brown record, Quaranta. With all of these major artists getting their roses, we thought we would highlight some releases that have most likely gone under your radar. Today, we are highlighting artists that should have had their appreciation, but have been missed due to major artist releases. 

추​락​은 천​천​히 (How to Sink Slowly) - Brokenteeth

The first release we’d like to highlight was released all the way back in february. This luscious shoegaze record is littered with incredible performances, amazing productions, and, dare I say, some of the best shoegaze moments of this decade. I first stumbled across this release on restless night on instagram where I was texting this one girl who sends me a bunch of incredible music; on this night she sends me one of the lead singles,  “Heaven Express(again),” to say I was entranced was an understatement; I had fallen in love with this track. And this effect wasn’t limited to that one track, the whole album was filled with these incredible, cohesive, gut-wrenching, tracks that puts you into this alternate reality. 

I Am The Dog - Sir Chloe

Wow, I’m honestly surprised that this wasn’t talked about much. This is the debut album of indie rock band Sir Chloe. If you’re not familiar with that name, then you may have heard her tracks like, “Michelle,” “Sedona,” and “Animal,” from where her audio snippets would create viral sounds on TikTok. This band has been able to create some pretty great tracks. A track that I enjoy is the opening track, “Should I”. The tones of the guitars are so crisp and Dana’s vocal delivery really just nails this track. I enjoy tracks where there are these theatrical moments that really were some of Sir Chloe’s best. If you enjoy this release as much as we have, definitely check to see if Sir Chloe is touring in your area. They are also bringing up and coming musician, Daffo.  

Dreamglow - Asian Glow X sonhos tomam conta

To be honest, I slept on this release pretty heavily. When it was initially released, I didn't completely listen to the whole album. I had only heard a couple of tracks and didn’t find it enjoyable. It wasn’t until a couple of weeks before writing this that I decided that I would give it another chance. I was so incorrect about my initial listen that I felt embarrassed. This album between two modern-day legends in the lo-fi scene is so gorgeous. From the incredible vocals from sonhos, to these sonic landscapes that Asian Glow creates, I'm honestly surprised that there isn’t as much of a buzz for this release. The beautiful blend of these two artists' respective styles create an experience that I wish more people paid attention to.

Failed at Math(s) - Panchiko

This is the latest and greatest release from everyone's favorite fabricated 4chan band, Panchiko. Whether you believe the story or not, this is their latest effort, and I find it quite enjoyable. There were a lot of great tracks throughout this LP, but I think what sold it, for me, is the track “Until I Know,” that hook is so addicting to have on repeat. It’s kind of crazy how they were able to sound so fresh. Even after twenty three years, it sounds as if they released this after their major debut, “D>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A>L”. If you like this album, I am very excited to tell you that they are on tour! They will be touring the states with acts like Weatherday, Wisp, Glare, and Tagabow. Check to see if they’re in your area.

KNOWER FOREVER - KNOWER

Go listen to it. NOW. This synth-jazz album is packed with some of the best interesting hooks and basslines of this year. There is just so much happening all at once, and, I for one, think it's some of the best of its genre. Just from the track, “I’m The President,” that chorus has not left my mind since my initial listen. And it's not limited to just that track , there are countless times where I found myself humming the melody of plenty of tracks off of this album. It is most definitely worth your time. 

Lost Dogs - Keep it Together

   This album released mid 2023 is quiet but powerful. It's a mixture of snowy days in your room and hot summer nights by a lake with a friend - as contradictory as that sound. Honestly, there's so much great about this work. This little bit of uni rock (as the creators called it on their bandcamp release page) has got elements of hope, depression, loneliness, and intimacy. Having just under 3,000 listeners monthly on Spotify, I believe that the duo Keep it Together has a lot ahead of them. While this work isn't revolutionary, I think a lot of people would resonate with the fuzzy sounds and warm vibes that this music has. (You will be able to read a more in-depth review of this album in a future post.)

GIZMO - Tanukichan

   This latest Tanukichan release is a comfy one. With songs like A Bad Dream, Make Believe, and Mr. Rain, it's easy to fall into a dreamy trance. The music from this release is a wonderful mixture of intensity and slowness. Tanukichan’s soft and flowy vocals are so relaxing and the deep buzzy guitar keeps you wanting more. Overall, this release is wonderful and shows the variety of Tanukichan's musical abilities while still holding true to that familiar sound of her previous works.

Heartbreak Rules - Horse Jumper of Love

   Horse Jumper of Love has been a favorite artist of mine for a while now and this album is unique to the band's original style. It's got more monotone vocals, but you can still hear their signature sound. It's not a favorite, but it is still well worth a listen. This album is comforting to say the least.

LOVE + POP - Current Joys

   This album has quite a bit of controversy throughout Current Joys fans. It's very much unlike Nick's other albums. It's not the same soft and sad slow songs. He brings out a different side to his music. He has said in the past that he takes inspiration from artists like Lil Peep, which you can definitely hear in this album. This album has more digital elements to it that I think are nice. This album is a big change from what Nick has put out in the past whether you mean from his side project Surf Curse or his main name, Current Joys. I'm excited to see where his new passions take him and what happens with his career.

Antarctica - waveform*

   I had first only heard the first track from this album, Lonely without realizing who it was. I listened to it a few months later and ended up loving it. It's a breath of fresh air for my ears from everything going on. There's faster songs than what they've previously released which I like a lot. They take a lot of inspiration from artists like Alex G and Horse Jumper of Love. waveform* is an indie/folk rock band with elements of slowcore being brought into a lot of their tracks. Overall this album is great, especially if you like artists such as Sign Crushes Motorist, Turnover, or Wisp.

Not only were there some incredible albums, but there were some incredible EPS. Lets go over some.

Skin of My Teeth - Lowertown

   I've been a fan of Lowertown for about 3 and a half years now, and I can say that this release is one of their best. They've matured as an artist in both sound and lyricism. With elements of folk and indie pop, this EP comes through strong and emotional. The emotions portrayed throughout this release are vibrant and many, with songs like Marionette showing feelings of irritation and betrayal and Bline bringing in dissociation and carelessness. It's one of the best releases of 2023 in my opinion.

Hitchhiker - Cuco

2023 has been a pretty busy year for Cuco. It seems that he does not want to stop his creative flow long after his 2022 release, “Fantasy Gateway''. Say what you want about his previous releases, you can not deny that his songs are getting a lot more mature. Whether it’s because his songwriting is better, or his songs are becoming more cohesive, it feels like Cuco is becoming more than the artist you used to listen to in middle school, and it's being proven with this EP. I enjoy how Cuco has been able to stay to his bedroom pop roots while mixing in more of his psychedelic pop. While not innovative, this EP does a great job of having some incredible love songs, Cuco’s writing has improved and it contains the best of his work. 

CHASER - Femtanyl

   This is the latest release from the new hyperpop artist Femtanyl. Her fun and crunchy sounds really come through on this EP. She has recently gone to Twitter (or in other names, X) announcing new music for this year. She's gained a lot of popularity from CHASER and I'm sure will only continue to grow. This EP gets me awake and productive when I feel sluggish, and I look forward to hearing more from her soon.

the way night falls - flyingfish

   This EP is something else. It's so explosive and imaginative. This upcoming artist brings a lot to the table in the shoegaze scene. For fans of Lush and Julie, you should definitely give flyingfish a listen, starting with the song windowsill from this release. The harsh guitar mixes well with the artist’s soft vocals and ambient intros to the tracks. This 15 year old artist does what a lot of older artists wish they could do; the songs from this release are dreamy and wistful. Flyingfish has definitely become a favorite of mine from this release alone.

Antennae- Binki

This is the latest EP from actor, singer songwriter, Bikini. This EP is just so much fun. It’s the kind that doesn’t necessarily take itself seriously. With that said, this has so many catchy, memorable sounds throughout the EP. Definitely check it out if you’re a fan of acts like Remi Wolf, and Dijon

And that's it! if there were some releases that you thought should've been included, email us! mooncatmelodies@gmail.com

thank you and have a good night xoxo

we also made a playlist to go along with this from the releases we wrote about, along with some more that didn't make the cut. you can find it here

[daily-coloring]

Best of 2023 - Albums

Unbelievable year ... Fallen pop stars are returning, long time not seen artists are turning up in a best possible shape, producers making music under their own names, ... First of all I really enjoyed a few soundtracks this year especially Anthony Willis's Saltburn and Arnaud Rebotini's L'lle Rouge. Surprisingly I listened again on repeat a few DJ mixes too. Danny Tenaglia's new Global Underground was a pure treasure, James Zabiela's home session just made me dance for an hour in the living room, as well as Andy Butler's energetic set did too.

01. Roisin Murphy - Hit Parade - "If Hit Parade isn’t Murphy’s best album, it’s certainly her wildest and weirdest. Nowhere else is the scale of her ambition more evident than on the percussive and atmospheric “Free Will.” Murphy says she doesn’t believe in free will but that you should “just make believe that you can write the play” anyway. It’s yet another indelible statement that couldn’t come from anyone else." - Slant Magazine

02. Rebecca Black - Let Her Burn - "An acceptable stretch of Let Her Burn gives Black a chance to reform a persona she had never had any control over until now. As fundamental a shift as perhaps expected, Black warrants this change of pace but there is something inevitable about how these perspectives are formed and how retaliation to reactionary dogpiling a decade ago comes to the forefront. Working hard and pushing through with this half-hour debut LP is exceptional, with spotty highs and consistently solid mixes that give those electronic undercurrents a beat-worthy working. Destroy Me is a crucial highlight in getting to the core of reinvention but also in engaging with how buoyed Let Her Burn is by how much of an opposition it takes to the early works. Black has let her burn, whatever “her” was. Let Her Burn razes and destroys as much as it can, and it works as a successful, credible debut." - Cult Following

03. Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Hana

04. Clark - Sus Dog

05. Everything But The Girl - Fuse

06. Depeche Mode - Memento Mori

07. Mermaidens - Mermaidens

08. Kesha - Gag Order

09. Anna B Savage - in|FLUX - "So as a follow up to A Common Turn, this does feel like an album where, lyrically and thematically, we are dealing with an artist who has battled some of the previous demons, accepted the daily flux of life, and found a way to focus on the moments when life feels most complete. But in a musical context – Anna also seems to have taken that feeling, that love of contradiction, into the songs. At moments explosively ecstatic, at others wrought with emotion – and filled with influences and sounds from areas not explored on the previous LP – the album brings a bunch of disparate sounds and feelings together to create a powerful and impressive whole. Most impressive of all is the fact that, after an album that sent Picky Bastards into a spin for the whole of 2021, Anna has released something as good if not better." - Picky Bastards

10. HMLTD - The Worm

11. JMSN - Soft Spot

12. Orbital - Optical Delusion - "It’s an album of unlikely collaborations. Day One features the operatic talents of Dina Ipavic, while Are You Alive, sung by Lily Wolter of Penelope Isles, floats into moodier, more analog territory. Best of all are The New Abnormal (Golden Girls’ Kinetic turned inside out) and the anti-gammon state of the nation rant of Dirty Rats." - Record Collector

13. Spelling - SPELLLING & The Mystery School

14. Future Utopia - We Were We Still Are

15. CLT DRP - Nothing Clever, Just Feelings

16. Joy Wellboy - The Ones That Got Away

17. Pierre Rousseau - Twenty - Music for Etudes N°20 - Spring Summer 2022

18. Joyce Muniz - Zeitkapsel

19. Emiliana Torrini & The Colorist Orchestra - Racing The Storm

20. Thomas Azier - The Inventory Of Our Desire

21. Sofia Kourtesis - Madres

22. Not Waving - The Place I've Been Missing

23. Restive Plaggona - Ignis

24. Deichkind - Neues Vom Dauerzustand

25. Daughter - Stereo Mind Game

26. Daði Freyr - I Made an Album

27. Yves Tumor - Praise A Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds)

28. Surgeon - Crash Recoil - "Crash Recoil is probably about as close to a live Surgeon record as we’re ever going to get. Child views producing and performing as two disparate disciplines, which they are, and he goes about each in a very different way. This also means it’s about as close to a traditional pop/rock approach to writing and recording as you’re likely to find from an electronic producer, woodshedding tracks on the road and sharpening them to a diamond sheen. More bands and producers should think of adopting the approach as it clearly can yield stunning results, as evidenced by this glorious offering." - Spectrum Culture

29. Duran Duran - DANSE MACABRE

30. When Saints Go Machine - Rosy

31. Young Fathers - Heavy Heavy

32. Maps - Counter Melodies

33. Laurent Garnier - 33 tours et puis s'en vont

34. Benedikt Frey - Fastlane

35. ANOUK - Deena and Jim

36. Anthony Naples - Orbs - "The New York producer once known for muscular house and techno continues to drift into the ether, channeling ’90s chillout and dub techno into his singular vision." - Pitchfork

37. James Holden - Imagine This Is A High Dimensional Space Of All Possibilities

38. Hifi Sean & David McAlmont - Happy Ending

39. Tirzah - trip9love...???

40. Kelela - Raven

[hermitologist]

My Favorite Records of 2022

Hi. I made another list.

First thing’s first. I apologize for the lack of music recommendations and runs on my Instagram this year. Thrice had a pretty busy touring schedule, and with the kids back in school the local virus carousel was BRUTAL. Seemed like we got to sample a new strain of the crud literally every other week. It’d rip its way through the house, we’d send the kids back to school, they’d bring a new batch of snot home a few days later, and it’d start up all over again. Rinse and repeat. It was hard to get out there and run with all that going on. Also: Blame where blame is due ... I got a little lazy when I wasn’t picking up goopy Kleenex or horking up some crud of my own. I”ll be back next year. (Hopefully.)

An-y-waaaaay ... 

I did manage to listen to a lot of new music despite "the circumstances”, and I have compiled all of my favorites for you here. There's a pretty clear cut Top 5 this year based on play counts, but the rest of the list didn’t really make sense to rank because this shit’s really all subjective anyway. I broke the list into categories that made sense to me, at the time, for organization’s sake. Each record has link to the band/label’s Bandcamp or website, so please please PLEASE support the artists you love beyond just streaming their music.

Playlists with a song from each record are below. I know it’s a lot of music. I know it’s all over the place. I know you don’t have time to listen to five-and-a-half hours of music. At the very least, I’d suggest at needle-dropping through the entire thing and earmarking some stuff to check out. That’s how I find a good chunk of this stuff. 

And please let me know what you dug this year and think I should check out!

Hope you all have a safe and happy holiday season. See you next year!

PLAYLISTS

My Favorites of 2022 Playlist (Spotify)

My Favorites of 2022 Playlist (Apple Music)

My Favorites of 2022 Playlist (Tidal)

THE TOP 5

Elder - Innate Passage

No contest here. This is a clear cut #1 for me. Fifty-four minutes of absolutely glorious, wholly transcendental, life-affirming, dreamy/heavy metal-adjacent prog. As a musician, I can tell you firsthand how hard it is to write a long song that doesn’t *feel* long. These fellas routinely crank out high-quality 10-minute-plus jams that you’ll hope never end. Queue this up and take it for a run, a long walk, or a long drive and you’ll see what I mean. It’s magical. And yes, it came out late in the year, but I haven’t been able to stop listening to it or thinking about it since, and I don’t see that changing for a long while.

Meshuggah - Immutable

It’s damn near impossible to find the right words for this band, let alone this record, but this is absolute wizardry, yet again, from the best metal band that has ever existed. Pure face-melting heaviness. They routinely reset the bar for what heavy music can and should be, and Immutable is no exception. It might even be my favorite Meshuggah record ever.

Museum of Light - Horizon

Ultra-heavy, sludgy, dynamic, meditative, push vs. pull, melody vs. dissonance post-rock in the vein of Kowloon Walled City, Shiner, Traindodge, and Torche. The songwriting is so clean and efficient, and the record as a whole is just a gorgeous, perfectly crafted arc. It’s perfect.

Holy Fawn - Dimensional Bleed

The heaviest, prettiest, most infectious batch of post-rock/metal I’ve heard in a long while. Dynamic shifts that are pure catharsis. A band that has the ability to give you euphoric chills one minute, and bring you to tears the next, headbanging all the while. Their first LP blew me away, and I wasn’t sure they could top it, but they totally have.

The Beths - Expert In A Dying Field

This record was an instant pick-me-up this year. A much-needed salve amidst all the stress and anxiety and depression the world can throw your way these days. Twelve preposterously hooky jams, that will put a smile on your face and a bounce in your step (even when the lyrical content dips into darker themes). It totally rules.

15 OTHER RECORDS THAT STAYED IN HEAVY ROTATION (in no order)

PLOSIVS - S/T

Drug Church - HYGIENE

Tvivler - Kilogram

Birds In Row - Gris Klein

gospel - The Loser

Cult of Luna - The Long Road North

Russian Circles - Gnosis

Conjurer - Pathos

Anxious - Green House

SPICE - Viv

PUP - The Unraveling of PUP The Band

The Smile - A Light For Attracting Attention

Pianos Become The Teeth - Drift 

Cloakroom - Dissolution Wave

Stray From The Path - Euthanasia

OTHER RECORDS I ENJOYED (also in no order)

Architects - the classic symptoms of a broken spirit Pedro the Lion - Havasu And So I Watch You From Afar - Jettison Mass Worship - Portal Tombs Rival Consoles - Now Is  Fleshwater - We’re Not Here To Be Loved Abraham - Debris de Mondes Perdus Norna - Star is way way is Eye Dan Mayo - Greenhouse Silvan Strauss - FACING Vein - This World is Going to Ruin You Author & Punisher - Krüller Black Thought/Dangermouse - Cheat Codes Cave In - Heavy Pendulum Square Peg Round Hole - Reservoir  Kendrick Lamar - Mr. Morale and The Big Steppers Pete Rock - Petestrumentals 4 Pet Fox - A Face In Your Life Swami John Reis - Ride the Wild Night Heriot - Profound Morality  Bastions - Majestic Desolation Wake - Thought Form Descent Inclination - Unaltered Perspective Momma - Household Name Hot Water Music - Feel The Void KEN Mode - NULL Animals As Leaders - Parrhesia Mark Giuliana - the sound of listening Meat Wave - Malign Hex Haunted Shores - Void Blessed - Circuitous Celeste - Assassine(s) Louis Cole - Quality Over Opinion Grivo - Omit Wonder Years - The Hum Goes on Forever A Hope For Home - Years Of Silicon Mountaineer - Giving Up The Ghost Norma Jean - Deathrattle Sing for Me Lamb Of God - Omens Psychonaut - Violate Consensus Reality Callous Daoboys - Celebrity Therapist Easy Prey - Unrest 84 Tigers - Time in the Lighthouse  Codespeaker - S/T Colonial Wound - Easy Laugh Thousandaire - Ideal Conditions

THE NEW BOTCH SONG I LISTENED TO LIKE 247 TIMES IN 3 DAYS

Botch - One Twenty Two

10 FAVORITE EPs

Downward - The Brass Tax  Cult Leader/End - Gather & Mourn  Irist - Gloria  Gleemer - Here at All  GoGo Penguin - Between Two Waves Lockstep - Lockstep 2  Portico Quartet - Next Stop  Be Well - Hello Sun  Chamber - Carved In Stone  Waldo’s Gift - Improvisations Vol. 2 

1 RECORD FROM 2019 THAT DIDN’T “CLICK” UNTIL 2022

Car Bomb - Mordial

2 RECORDS THAT DIDN’T COME OUT IN 2022 BUT GOT A LOTTA SPINS

Low - Double Negative Pile - Green and Gray

3 PODCASTS THAT I COULDN’T LIVE WITHOUT

Office Hours - humor, music, pure joy The Distraction - sports and social commentary/humor Effectively Wild - baseball analysis/humor

[dustedmagazine]

Dust Volume Nine, Number Nine

Body/Head

The days are getting shorter, so why not a few more short reviews from Dusted writers?  This month we cover a pretty wide swath of possible musics, from tech death to ambient electronics to improvised guitar duets.  Contributors included Jonathan Shaw, Tim Clarke, Bryon Hayes, Ray Garraty, Jennifer Kelly, Andrew Forell, Bill Meyer and Ian Mathers. 

Acausal Intrusion — Panspsychism (I, Voidhanger)

Acausal Intrusion continues its journey from the extremes of utterly demented tech death (see the band’s first LP, Nulitas) to this most recent version of the band’s sound. To be sure, Panpsychism still disturbs and confounds, but you can track the progression of song forms through most of the record’s eight tracks, and when the needle lifts at the close of “The Beauty Within,” you will likely be able to locate your extremities in physical space. Your mind? That depends. You can get pretty lost in the twists and inversions in the middle section of “This Inward Separation,” and “Molecular Entanglement” works pretty hard to deliver on its title’s premise (hold on tight through the tune’s second half…). Still, these new songs are much more interested in creating interesting riffs and repeating them than in turning the structures of temporality inside out. It may be telling that the longest track on Panpsychism is called “Pillar of Rationality.” Is Acausal Intrusion becoming invested in cause-and-effect relations? Only time will tell — assuming you can figure out which way time is running after giving this record a spin.

Jonathan Shaw

Arrowounds — The Slow Boiling Amphibian Dreamstate (Lost Tribe Sound)

The Slow Boiling Amphibian Dreamstate by ARROWOUNDS

Back in March, Arrowounds’ In the Octopus Pond cast a spell that’s been hard to shake. In my Dusted review I wrote, “Though there are plenty of precedents for what Chamberlain is doing here, there’s a cohesive vision to this record that proves intoxicating.” This follow-up, the aptly titled The Slow Boiling Amphibian Dreamstate, also has a cohesive vision, but one that’s much darker and more abstract than its predecessor. Aside from a distant muted rhythm on opener, “All Life Dissolved in the Deep,” this is a largely beatless album, with ambient textures brought to the fore. For the majority of these 45 minutes, very little happens at all, aside from the looming of unsettling reverberations, throbbing bass tones and modulated sounds that could be the buzzing of flies. There’s the feeling that something ritualistic is unfolding in the shadows, something that may prove to unleash malignant forces. It’s certainly an evocative listen, but one that requires patience and the casting aside of any preconceived expectations. This one’s all about the atmosphere.

Tim Clarke

Blood Oath — Lost in an Eternal Silence (Caligari Records)

Eternal silence? Not likely when these Chilean freaks are around. Blood Oath plays a proggy variety of death metal, long on musical technique and a lot spacier than not. But those ambitions and atmospherics never get in the way of satisfying tunefulness, and when guitarists Ignacio Canales and Iganacio Riveras (yep, two Iganacios) indulge their desires to shred, there’s plenty of thrashy antics and dive-bombing abandon to enjoy. This reviewer really digs “Reflections of Darkness,” which is shot through with a groovy weirdness; the soloing verges on hair-metal heroics here and there, but in this context, that turns out to be a lot of fun. Lost in Eternal Silence is more smoked out than grossed out, and some of us like our death metal a bit soggier and smellier. But there’s no denying the musical invention on display here, and the speed and dexterity nears intoxicating levels.

Jonathan Shaw

Body/Head — Come On (Longform Editions Remix) (Longform Editions)

Come On (Longform Editions remix) by Body/Head

Kim Gordon and Bill Nace have been exploring the mind-body divide for over a decade, yet they still manage to surprise and delight. The duo sprung the Come On EP on us earlier this year, without notice. Replete with short, song-like impressions, the brief recording was a subtle evolution in the Body/Head oeuvre. They astonish once more with this extended remix of the EP’s leading track, stretching it into a 20-minute ambient opus. Only faint echoes of the piece’s guitar noise remain, as Nace dons his dub producer’s cap to create a smoke-filled atmosphere. Gordon’s sultry voice beckons, yet through time dilation seems to call from the edge of the universe. She and Nace are joined by music video director and Peaches collaborator Vice Cooler, whose slippery synth squiggles add a gritty snarl to the otherwise soothing vapor trails. This is a potent brew, a beguiling chanson rooted firmly in the ever-expanding Body/Head universe.

Bryon Hayes

DJ Muggs — Soul Assassins 3: Death Valley (Soul Assassins Records)

The third part of the DJ Muggs’ trilogy has got an impressive list of guests. How can one even get a verse from Ice Cube and MC Ren these days? But despite the shocking number of rap stars (many of them fell off, to be honest), hardly anything on Soul Assassins 3: Death Valley feels like a real song. These are projects, with phoned-in verses, and Muggs was just doing construction work, putting these verses together. Only three solo tracks with Boldy James (“It’s On,” “Where We At, and “We Coming For the Safe”) sound like he was really working for it. After half a dozen of listens not a single song sticks in mind. You just keep listing these big names in your head.

Ray Garraty

Duffy X Uhlmann — Doubles (Orindal)

Doubles by Duffy x Uhlmann

Meg Duffy is a heck of a guitar player, witness their support work for Kevin Morby, their own Hand Habits and this year’s yes/and all-instrumental collaboration with Oneohtrix Point Never producer Joel Ford. Now the artist teams up with Gregory Ulhmann, likely encountered on a recent Hand Habits/Perfume Genius tour in 2022 for an album of improvised guitar duets, laid down in one single takes, look ma, no net. These cuts are lovely and varied. “Half Smile” is precise but lyrical. One guitar sets up a clock-like rhythmic foundation, while another splays lingering chords and pensive runs of melody atop this architectural structure. “Etch” is more luxuriant, with high tremulous melody stepping nimbly over scratchy strums and flowering in harp-like profusion. “Which One Is You” has a pulsing, electronic mystery, guitar notes scattered over an eerie Burial-ish atmosphere (or possibly some of that Oneohtrix Point Never influence rubbed off). “Braid” is cerebral and austere, the notes clipped short, so that guitar sounds like a malleted percussion instrument. The two parts interlock like delicately tuned machinery, the one fitting where the other stops, and both dancing in airy, contemplative joy.

Jennifer Kelly

Alabaster DePlume — Come with Fierce Grace (Intl Anthem)

Come With Fierce Grace by Alabaster DePlume

Alabaster DePlume recorded material for these 12 tracks at the same time as he was making GOLD, working with20 other musicians in various configurations and laying far more sound to tape than he could use, even for a double album. And yet while this music is, strictly speaking, leftovers, it is, in some ways, far more visceral and affecting than its sprawling predecessor. The sounds are rougher, warmer and less baroquely poised. There are African rhythms and tones in many of these cuts, in this rumbling, rattling foundations of percussive “To that Voice and Say,” in the desert flutter of spare haunting “Give Me Away.” DePlume, himself, sings less and plays more, entering into swaggering, blistered dialogue with a drummer, in “What Can It Take,” overblowing long, trembling vibrations on abstract “Fall on Flowers.” Where he does foreground singing, it’s likely to be someone else, like the Guinean artist Falle Nioke in “Sibomandi,” carving rough shadow-y blues arcs across complicated volleys of percussion and sax. Or London-based Momoko Gill, who breathes silky smooth R&B lines into a thicket of plucked bass notes, sounding very much like Sade but without the sheen of slick production. I was lukewarm on GOLD, but I like this one a lot. Let’s hear it for leftovers.

Jennifer Kelly

Erik Enocksson — Räkna evighet som intet (Irrlicht/Ideal)

Räkna evighet som intet by Erik Enocksson

Swedish composer Erik Enocksson explores grief and transcendence in two longform pieces on his new release which translates as “Count eternity as nothing.” Written for a string quartet, voices overlaid and electronic effects, with a libretto taken from the poetry of Lotta Lotass, Enocksson invokes the confusion and despair essential to the mourning process and the redemptive power of prayer, poetry and music. The work plays out like a non-linear operetta, shifting between emotional states and intensity.

Part 1 begins with a babble of voices, an invocation. Inchoate strings and electronics gradually coalesce into form, a wordless male voice, cantor-like, answered by a choral libretto based on the poetry of Lotta Lotass. In Part 2 swirls of feedback, like nails on a blackboard, the bottom end of the strings distorted, again searching for meaningful form. The choir liturgical, before Sara Fors’ vulnerable soprano comes to the fore, barely there in lonely prayer, before a lengthy fade into eternal silence. Räkna evighet som intet is a hauntingly evocative work which doesn’t shy from darkness but ends in purifying light.

Andrew Forell

Devin Gray — Most Definitely  (Rataplan)

Most Definitely by Rataplan Records

One truth of performance is that the performer spends the whole of their life preparing for something that another person might only see during one brief and circumscribed moment. Devin Gray, a drummer who has worked with Kris Davis, Ellery Eskelin and numerous other singular jazz musicians, recreates that phenomenon on his debut solo recording, Most Definitely. If you want to get in touch with the reflection and effort that go into the self-creation of an artist, go to this album’s Bandcamp page when you have some time and read the two exhaustive texts he wrote for it. But in the spirit the actual music, this review will be brief. Gray limited himself to one six-hour session, during which he improvised from a series of prompts. With one exception, the album’s 23 tracks are quite short, and each uses a laser focus to express a particular sound, idea or transitional event. As befits a guy who is engaged with the freer end of things, but also engaged with the music’s ongoing historical development, you can hear a spectacular breadth of sounds, some of which become brief homages to his inspirations.

Bill Meyer

Anthony Naples — orbs (ANS Recordings)

orbs by Anthony Naples

Dusted last checked in with producer Anthony Naples back in 2015, when Patrick Masterson noted that his Body Pill LP made for a transition away from Naples’ dancefloor work to “a peaceful, nocturnal release built for life’s simple, quiet moments.” On the evidence of the lush, accomplished new orbs, Naples has continued to go in that direction, and it’s paying dividends. From the opening “Moto Verse” finding a middle ground between trip hop and ambient to the closing “Unknow” evoking a kinder, gentler Boards of Canada (albeit with a prominent bassline). orbs succeeds in both its sound design and its construction. These ten tracks (kept to a trim 43 minutes and change, although the pace never feels rushed) seem drawn from the same pool of nighttime calm Naples was channeling back on Body Pill, but if anything his approach has gotten more refined and potent with time.

Ian Mathers

Eddie Prévost / NO Moore /James O’Sullivan / Ross Lambert — CHORD (Shrike)

CHORD by Eddie Prévost | NO Moore | James O’Sullivan | Ross Lambert

Shrike emerged in 2021 as an outlet for London’s thriving free improvisation scene. A survey of their Bandcamp page indicates that capitalization matters, so let’s ponder for a moment the determination to render in all caps something that you’ll listen hard to find on this recording. It is a studio encounter between three electric guitarists and the esteemed percussionist, Eddie Prévost, whose involvement ensures that the music is going to enact a process of exploration, but suffice to say that no one is searching for the lost chord. No, they’re looking for ways to contribute to a dialogue of arcing tones, shimmering decays, rough-edge scraps and feedback that’ll resonate in your ribcage. By dint of being the only non-guitarist, Prévost becomes the agent of contrast and focus across seven absorbing exchanges. It appears that Shrike prioritizes visual presentation, and CHORD’s trifold sleeve is a thing of beauty. One hopes that in the future the label will extend that respect to the format itself and put it on a glass-mastered CD instead of the short-run, blue-faced disc used here.

Bill Meyer

Radian — Distorted Rooms (Thrill Jockey)

Distorted Rooms by Radian

Experimental trio Radian — Martin Brandlmayr on drums and electronics, Martin Siewert on guitars and electronics and John Norman on bass — create a splintered, deconstructed form of post-rock with industrial leanings and the low-slung funkiness of instrumental hip-hop. Their sounds are metallic and dank, often blown out with distortion and scattered across the stereo field to give the listener just enough grounding to follow their rhythms, but frequently upending expectations of where their meandering compositions may venture next. Radian’s last album, 2016’s On Dark Silent Off, is probably their finest and most cohesive to date; their new album, the fittingly titled Distorted Rooms, feels like a more fractured effort, its six tracks taking a more abstract course across 40 minutes of music. The band’s sounds are always interesting, but there are passages here where you have to wait patiently for everything to lock into place. Distorted Rooms’ finest moments are probably “Cicada,” which features some of the record’s more breakneck and addictive rhythms, and finale “S at the Gates,” which coalesces its sound sources into something ominously atmospheric.

Tim Clarke

Shackleton & Waclaw Zimpel ft  Siddhartha Belmannu — The Cell of Dreams (7K!)

The Cell of Dreams is a collaboration between producer Sam Shackleton, Polish polymath Waclaw Zimpel and singer Siddhartha Belmannu. Shackleton and Zimpel use harmonium like drones, keyboards, alto clarinet and hand percussion to develop serpentine trance-like ragas. Singing in his native language Kannada, Belmannu, a rising star in Indian classical music, moves through registers of his voice with magistral grace. The 19-minute opener “The Ocean Lies Between Us” features long cycles of drone and buzz, minimal percussion, lapping water and Belmannu modulated and serene intercut with wordless runs through the higher registers. Not understanding the words, you concentrate solely on his tone and emotion to the extent that when he sings in English on “Everything Must Decay” it takes a little readjustment of focus, but the combination of Belmannu’s voice, Zimpel’s treated alto clarinet and Shackleton’s production effects is mesmerizing.

Andrew Forell

Superposition — Glaciers (Kettle Hole Records)

Glaciers by Superposition

Superposition is Todd Carter and Michael Hartman, who also comprise two thirds of the category-noncompliant trio, TV Pow. TV Pow rarely gets together these days since its members have lives and the third member, Brent Gutzeit, left Chicago years ago. But Superposition’s existence proves that Hartman and Carter are still playing together, and still adhering to the essential TV Pow tenet that if they get in the same room and make some sounds, whether they issue from computers, conversations, made-up instruments or a nice grand piano, those sounds might end up on a record. The ten tracks on Glaciers are made by stacking layers of spare keyboard lines and muffled drum tracks, and periodically interrupting their trundling passage in ways that suggest that something has gone somewhere, then stopped and done something else. If that description seems non-specific, so is the music; while just enough of the track titles relate to glaciers to make you look for a concept album in this stuff, it could just as be set to driving instruction films or the progress of Mario from one side of your video screen to the other. This is a feature, not a bug. Put this on and do something. 

Bill Meyer

Thrash Palace — Go (Sub Pop)

Part of the Sub Pop Singles series, Thrash Palace’s “Go” rips as hard as it’ll go, a bludgeoning assault of guitar noise, thwacked to bits by hard, block-simple drums. You might recognize the singer’s florid, blues-nodding belt or her guttural grunt: that’s EMA doing her best rock goddess. The rest of the band is likewise impressive. Sarah Register of Talk Normal and Kim Gordon’s band plays guitar and XBXRX’s Vice Cooler plays hits those brutalist drums. The flipside “Teenage Spaceship” is quieter but also full of drama. Here EMA’s voice tamps down to a whisper, and the atmosphere envelopes rather than blowing the house down. Both are quite good, intense, theatrical and inventive in a way that evokes Savages and, naturally, Kim Gordon. Thrash on, ladies. We need a full-length.

Jennifer Kelly

Vengeance — Sewer Surge (Dying Victims Productions)

Nasty, grimy and dank, Sewer Surge is the first proper LP from Vengeance — or, as they seem to prefer, Fukkin Vengeance. That additional term in the band’s name is close to risible, but it helps to distinguish this speed metal act from at least two other Polish metal bands that call themselves Vengeance, in addition to the dozen or so other outfits claiming the moniker (from Brazil, Germany, the States and elsewhere). Polish? Yep, but you’d be forgiven for assuming that an obscure NWOBHM band recorded Sewer Surge sometime in 1983. This is metal for a bar fight, for a biker run, for a night of whites and pints of Ballantine Ale in Sheffield (or in Warsaw, one supposes). The band seems to be clued into the layers of allusion and potential ironical goofiness that come with this sort of earnest love letter to those halcyon days of leather, spikes and Flying Vs: the best tune on the record is called “Disappointing Parking Lot Sex.” That’s really funny, and the song is pretty great. Just don’t expect Fukkin Vengeance to get out of the gutter (or sewer) any time soon.

Jonathan Shaw

Dustin Wong — Perpetual Morphosis (Hausu Mountain)

Perpetual Morphosis by Dustin Wong

Dustin Wong creates outlandish and beautiful sound worlds that are inspired by his limitless creativity. Originally a denizen of the weird and wonderful Baltimore music scene – he was a member of both Ecstatic Sunshine and Ponytail – the guitarist has since created a solo career around his mastery of loop pedals. Not keen to sit still, Wong continues to extend his performative toolbox. Perpetual Morphosis, his sophomore Hausu Mountain joint, finds Wong fusing instrumentation and digitally sourced sounds. The resulting compositions reside somewhere between the intricate patterns of American minimalism and the post-modern zaniness emanating from the Orange Milk catalog. Fractalized percussive patterns bounce around, obfuscated by neon-colored tone clouds and the gently wafting breeze of Wong’s treated vocalizing. His guitar interjects repeatedly as we traverse this technicolor dream world, zooming in and out of focus as the composer straddles the fragile boundary between inspiration and outright madness. Perpetual Morphosis pokes at Wong’s charged up cerebellum, proffering a pleasant jolt in the process.

Bryon Hayes

75 Dollar Bill — Power Failures (Karl Records)

Power Failures by 75 DOLLAR BILL

75 Dollar Bill was that last band I saw before the pandemic closed everything down. They played a riveting set in a refurbished industrial space on the campus of Amherst College about a week into 2020, and, as a famous playwright put it, the rest is silence, at least for a couple of years. Power Failures comes from that period, as the two principals put together live and unreleased recordings as a way to stay relevant during the lockdown. It came out digitally in 2020 and is just now getting the vinyl treatment. The disc captures 75 Dollar Bill’s hallucinatory desert blues drone, its long haunted notes, punctuated by an ecstatic, primal drumming. Sounds of audiences, of birds, of children filter in through these shape shifting meditations, incorporating the real world like certain just-before-the-alarm dreams bring ambient noises into their narratives. “Snow Jumper’s Harp” shimmers and smolders, the steady friction of shaken percussion intersecting with an elemental blues riff repeated till it transcends itself. “15 (YASI)” sputters with electric distortion, knocks insistently on wood. A flute comes in, dreaming its own dreams. It is very serene, but also full of fire. The long set recorded at the Noguchi Gardens in Queens allows the sounds of nature to drift past, as Che Chen searches for the essence of single notes, letting them hang, repeating them, letting them die out, stopping time, in a good way, not the way the pandemic did.

Jennifer Kelly

[amazing-spiderling]

Music ask game: 2 5 14 18 19 30 35 47 64 blue

2. Do you still buy CDs (or other physical media)?

I do! I actually still buy *blank* CDs and burn stuff to play in the car (although we finally figured out how to make the USB port play nice so that's less of a priority). I think I'm most likely to buy CDs from small indie bands at small events or live shows? Or like when I went to Meow Wolf I *HAD* to have the CDs of the music they played throughout the venue and the arcade. Also a few years ago I decided to start collecting LPs in earnest. Not like, as a BIG THING, but I bought a record player that wasn't from the thrift store and now I have a few dozen records, largely anime and video game soundtracks, but also Vaporwave and Chillwave stuff and a few "normal" bands as well.

5. Is there a song you don’t like but like its music video?

Uhhh.... I honestly couldn't think of one. OTL I dunno, I feel like these days you have to actively seek out music videos, and a lot of them are just kind of whatever. So I probably wouldn't go looking for the video of a song I didn't care for. Maybe there was a time when someone sent me a memey music video for a terrible song but I can't really think of any. :/

14. A song or album from the 50s or earlier:

Okay, this cover is from much later, but the original is from 1958. I have this whole silly headcanon from an old Spideypool Back to the Future AU that I never did anything with that involved this song, so it sticks out in my memory.

18. A song or album from the 90s:

Even though Sailor Stars hadn't been released in the US at the time I was in high school, my friends and I were the kind of nerds to get our hands on fansubs and third hand information about the final season and became low key obsessed with the Sailor Starlights. It became very important that I learn all the words to Sailor Star Fighter's image song.

19. A song or album from the 2000s:

From 2004. I saw a silly "what your favorite anime says about you" meme that said if your favorite was Samurai Champloo you think you're a little bit cooler than everyone else, and you're low key kind of right. XD I don't know if it's my favorite of all time, but I'm willing to accept that assessment anyway. This was a track I had on repeat through a lot of the 2000's

30. Songs you love to sing along to:

I don't even particularly like Metal Gear Solid 3 but I'd be lying if I said Snake Eater isn't an absolute bop.

35. A song you like in a language you don’t speak:

What else could it be? :)

47. Is there an artist you used to dislike but learned to like because of a friend’s influence?

...Huh. I think maybe not? I feel like I'm pretty instinctive about stuff like music. At most I might go from "I was unaware of this until now" to being really into it, but if I don't like something at first listen, I'm probably not going to grow an appreciation for it, since my reasons for disliking music usually has to do with how it makes me feel physically. (Stuff that's really intense like death metal and dubstep sort of makes my chest and head hurt- that's not going to change any time soon.)

64. [Send me a color and I’ll post an album cover art of that color.]

Daredevil '03 kids will understand XD

[bubblesandgutz]

Every Record I Own - Day 773: Lungfish The Unanimous Hour

My first exposure to The Unanimous Hour was on a European tour back in 2005. Our booking agent and I got to talking about music during some downtime in London and by the end of the conversation he had shoved CD copies of King Crimson's Red and Lungfish's The Unanimous Hour into my hands, incredulous that I hadn't heard either. Red made enough sense to me that I picked up the LP upon returning to the States. But The Unanimous Hour didn't win me over, and a decade would pass before I heard it again.

Once again I was in Europe. We had a day off to pull a long drive from Poland to Lithuania. It was late autumn and the sun set early, so most of the drive was in the dark. By this point I was getting pretty heavily into Lungfish but there were still a few albums I hadn't spent time with. I remember downloading The Unanimous Hour onto my phone and listening to it on that long, dark drive on my headphones. As I mentioned earlier, I've found that Lungfish doesn't translate well as driving music, and once again, the album passed without making much of an impression on me.

Still, I couldn't pass on a cheap vinyl copy The Unanimous Hour when I found it in the wild a few months later. Honestly, it's been the least played LP of theirs in my collection, and I wasn't entirely sure what I'd have to say about it when it came into the Tumblr queue. But I've been listening to The Unanimous Hour a lot over the last few days and I've finally had my magic-eye moment with it.

Even at the outset of all these Lungfish posts, I tended to lump The Unanimous Hour in with the last era of the band. The first era was when Lungfish felt like the more cryptic twin to Fugazi. The second era---from Sound In Time through the end of the '90s---was when they found their footing in repetition and metaphysical lyrics and began to deconstruct their approach to songwriting. The final era, to my ears, found the band zeroing in on a very rudimentary, foundational approach to punk. Higgs becomes both more menacing and more prophetic. The songs generally become a little more muscular, though in contrast to their earlier work, the quieter and more reserved songs tend to become the highlights.

I love the entire Lungfish catalog, but my favorite records are in that second era, and The Unanimous Hour, with it's clamorous and sneering album opener "Space Orgy," felt like the transition away from the more meditative and spatial records in their catalog. I'm not sure why I initially felt the album was a move away from their past work. The next two songs tap into familiar territories: "Web of Mirrors" is an instrumental vignetter not unlike some of my favorite tracks off Artificial Horizon and "Searchlight" is an authoritative exercise in muscular minor key minimalism similar to the general vibe of Sound In Time. And things start to get a lot weirder from there.

"Vulgar Theories" is primitive even by Lungfish standards---just one fuzzy chord banged out in quarter notes for the verses while Higgs does his usual Higgs-isms. The chorus is the same chord, the same timing, the same tempo, just a little louder and with one extra chord thrown in every fourth measure. Repeat for four minutes. But somewhere around the third or fourth cycle of the loud-louder verse/chorus structure, the band throws in a third chord, and it feels like the most triumphant thing ever. A Lungfish song with an apex? Who would've thought?

The album continues to wield some of Lungfish's weirdest and wildest material---the sublime lullaby-like "God's Will," the one-chord drone and octave-shifted vocals of "Metatron," the noise-swaddled instrumental "Return to the Caves," the transcendent tape manipulation of "Hallucinatorium"---all of it distinctly Lungfish, while also demonstrating a continuing exploration of possibility.

In many ways, I feel a little embarrassed that it's taken me 18 years to decipher the album's charms. After all, it's not as if Lungfish's music is complicated or complex. Quite the opposite. It's rudimentary to the point of being a bit puzzling. Like... that's it? That's all you've got? But once you realize that the individual songs have no grand trajectory and instead seem to be obsessive studies of a single simple principle, a magic begins to emerge from the material.

Maybe that's why Pitchfork was generally unkind to Lungfish, except when it came to reviewing their reissues. You can't expect a critic to grant a Lungfish album a cursory listen and walk away from it with a full understanding of its power. It takes time to understand the songs, even if it sounds like very little time was spent putting the songs together. In this case, it took me nearly 18 years to truly appreciate to appreciate their eighth album, but it was well worth the wait.

[aniron48]

🎶 and 🛠 for the writer emoji ask!

::waves:: hi @silverbrume! Thank you for asking!

🛠What tools/programs/apps do you use to write?

I always love hearing other people's answers to this, because I think what works for people can vary so much, and other people's processes are fascinating to me! I am, personally, a little bit obsessed with Scrivener. I got the desktop program years ago with a NaNo discount, and quickly fell in love, but the real game changer for me was when I bit the bullet and also got the mobile app, and synced my writing folder to Dropbox, so that I can switch back and forth seamlessly between writing on my phone and on my computer. It's enabled me to really take advantage of any free moment where the mood strikes to write--on my commute, on my lunch break, in the waiting room at the doctor's office, wherever. Even if it's only a few words, or the chance to jot down an idea or plot point before I forget, it's been so essential to finishing, well, anything. And sometimes snatching even a couple minutes to do something (else) I love in the middle of a busy day feels really refreshing.

🎶 Do you listen to music while you write? What song have you been playing on loop lately?

I don't listen to much music while I write--something about having other people's words in my head can sometimes make it hard for me to focus. However, I am a huge fan of making playlists for the things I write, and listening to them on my commute, when I'm exercising, etc., as a way to keep thinking about what I'm writing, and set the mood! Sometime maybe I'll post one of my 00q playlists, but for now, here are a few of the songs that I have on repeat:

"Die for Your Love" by LP

"Honey and the Moon" by Joseph Arthur (which recently featured in an amazing photoset by @bishybarnaby!)

"Don't Carry It All" by the Decembrists

"I Know A Place" by MUNA

"Beg for You" by Charlie XCX feat. Rina Sawayama (which is also the song Bond and Q dance to in The More Loving One)

"Second Chances" by Gregory Alan Isakov (which lends its title and some of its thematic material to this WIP)

"No Light, No Light by Florence and the Machine

"Hey Jealousy" by the Gin Blossoms

And last but not least, I have no self-control and have started writing something for this Carly Rae Jepsen series, so I have her music going quite a bit. :)

Would love to hear what you are listening to these days as well! <3

[talesfromthemightyi]

The Black Keys on writing with Noel: “It couldn’t have gone smoother!”

With the new Black Keys LP on the way, it’s only right that a consolidated write-up piece that collects every bit of information important to the lead up and collaboration between The Black Keys and Noel, be delivered in such a way that, hopefully gives you the full scope of their collaboration.

Patrick, Dan and Noel will tell it all. 

Though mostly Patrick talks through everything about the record all the way back from 2023 to most recently with Joe Rogan, so we’ll start there. And fair warning, there will be a few repeated lines as per the promotional jargon they’ve managed to whittle down before every time the duo speaks about the new LP.

It will jump back and forth, so there’s that to look out for as well.

Let’s start.

Patrick Carney to Rogan: “We made our new record collaborating with people, and one of the guys we wanted to work with was Noel Gallagher from Oasis. So we kept reaching out to him, seeing if he would be up for it, and we kept hearing back that he doesn’t really do that (co-writing songs). And I remembered that my neighbor, who I golf with, used to be Oasis’ agent. So I asked him if he could reach out and through that, we heard back that Noel would be up for recording with us, if we went to London. So we flew all the way to London and rented this small, little studio (Toe Rag Studios). And we barely knew Noel, we met him briefly. But we went in there with no song and sat down with him, and within a couple hours we had a song written and recorded.”

Pat (cont.): “And we did it three days in a row. And we had four days booked. After the first day, we got what we needed. It’d be cool if we got more…–”

Dan Auerbach (interjected): “The rest will be gravy, but we got what we needed. We came for the trip!”

Pat: “Yep, and the second day we got ‘On The Game’, and the third day we got a song called ‘Only Love Matters’ but the fourth day we showed up and were like, ‘We are NOT fucking pressing it!’. We went three-for-three. But let’s not fuck this up. So we spent the whole (fourth) day just bullshitting with him.”

Dan: “It was such an amazing feeling being in the room with him (Noel). We cut it in a studio called Toe Rag and the live room is this size, like this room (points out to the room). Pat’s drum kit is here (points again), little keyboard here, I’m right there and Noel’s right there. We were just in a circle and, you know, what you hear on the record is (one of the live takes) we did. It was like, the second or third time we got through the song without fucking it up. [..] It is the best feeling. It’s the most addictive thing ever, being able to get in the studio and make something out of nothing like that.”

Rogan speaks up briefly to praise ‘On The Game’ from Noel and the band, and expresses that he’s grateful to have been able to listen to Ohio Players early. When asking about the origins of the band and the meaning of the track, Pat lets on about a day at the Chiltern Firehouse where Noel would frequent.

Pat: “The cool thing about ‘On The Game’, we got everything but the lyrics. But the melody was there. We kind of made a point (in) making this album that for the first time we were going to, I guess, kind of do it the way that maybe bands used to do it in the 70s. We were going to stay at the nicest hotels, the funnest– the MOST fun hotels. We were going to have fun. So when we’re out in London, we were staying at the Chiltern Firehouse, just kind of partying every single night, and then dragging ourselves to the studio. One night, Noel was hanging out with us and he was like, pointing to some girl at the bar, he’s like, ‘Oh, she’s for sure on the game!’. And we’ve been to England fifty times but we never heard that expression. We’re like, ‘what’s that?’ and he’s like, ‘Oh, she’s a working girl, she’s probably… you know, she’s probably a prostitute.’ Which checks out, I think! And then Dan was like, ‘Yeah, everybody here is on the game.’ But making this record was so much fun.”

You can watch that podcast here for the rest of the episode.

Earlier in the year, the band also sat down with Uncut Magazine and gave the album a preview for their January 2024 Album Preview issue.

Pat starts, “Dan makes a lot of records for Easy Eye, and when he does those, he’s always writing and collaborating with the artists. But the only other person we’d written with was Danger Mouse. So this time we decided to go a little deeper into our rolodex and call some people we’d been talking about working with for a long time,” says Carney.

“We just hit the ground running and we’re making songs as soon as we can.” Auerbach interjects.

Carney continued, “It came out so easy that we were trying to think of other people that we could throw in the mix, and the person at the top of the list was Noel Gallagher. Everyone was like, ‘Noel doesn’t really write with other people.’ But he agreed to meet us in London. We booked some time at Toe Rag and recorded two songs with Noel in three days.”

In London back in 2023, Pat also briefly spoke to NME about that. “When you’re coming up, it can often feel like competition and you’re constantly stressed. Now, we’re at the point where we can just enjoy everything,” signaling a new start and reference to a newer sound of their, yet-to-be-finished (at the time), 12th studio album.

“The key to our sound is embracing the human element. None of us are virtuosic musicians, there’s just a lot of raw rock ‘n’ roll.”

That same interview was in anticipation of kicking off their UK leg of shows in June 2023 at The O2, Hydro and so forth. 

The band would, at the time, also host DJ nights and continues to do so to this day. 

“It’s just us, partying. We don’t want to go to some crummy bar after the show and listen to shitty music. We’d stay backstage and play music but there’s no one else there, which is kind of boring. This is a way for us to control the jukebox and hangout together. We’ve done a lot of growing up in the last 10 years. Dan and I have always been close but we’ve got a very deep friendship right now. We enjoy hanging out. Getting to go on tour with your friend, it makes the whole thing feel more exciting.”

Carney continues, “When we got back in the studio in 2021, to record what would become Dropout Boogie, something had changed. Obviously the whole world had changed but a year of isolation was enough to change the dynamic between Dan and I. We were really, really, really excited to see each other every day.”

In 2021, that work translated into 9 straight weeks of back-and-forth recording in between touring. Never forgetting to mention that even then, the results would ring in the best sounds possible for the duo and would later, actually, keep going.

“But we just kept working. By the end of the year, we had 17 new ideas down and we just kept going, [..] that was the beginning of what we’re finishing now, an epic album that’s our best record for sure. It won’t be out until next year, though. It’s a weird, full circle thing.”

At the time of the interview, Carney didn’t want to 'give too much away' about 'the new evolution of The Black Keys.' It’s important to note that at the time, in 2021, those sessions would spawn more than 40 newer recordings from the duo, minus collaborations from then.

He does go on about smaller details to end on and also mentions Gallagher for the first time, in this NME interview. 

“We’re working with a lot of people and the vibe of the record is fun. It’s very reflective of our DJ nights in a way, it’s a big Saturday night party record. We just had people come through the studio and throw a little bit of special sauce at each song. There are just so many different collaborations but there’s a thread through it with Dan and I filtering everything. It just feels really fucking amazing.”

In steps Noel.

“He’s hilarious and super talented! We were referring to him as ‘the Chord Lord’ because he’s just a perfectionist with it. Dan and I are big fans of him and Liam. Actually, the Liam song ‘Everything’s Electric’ is why we decided to work with Kurstin.”

In speaking to the vibe of the album in the NME interview, Carney would also go on to say that, “Danger Mouse showed us the trick to collaborating and that’s someone we need to work with again soon. We used to be pretty insular. We were two friends from Akron who didn’t really take part in any music scene, and we weren’t able to hang out backstage early on in our career, because we had to drive to the next show. Now, we’re thriving because we’re including our friends and being more inclusive. That’s what the vibe is with this record.”

The same sentiment is shared between Auerbach, most definitely, when he also spoke with Rolling Stone at the beginning of this year.

“No matter who we work with, it never feels like we’re sacrificing who we are. It only feels like it adds some special flavor. We just expanded that palette with people we wanted to work with. We were there to support them and their ideas, to do whatever we could to see that moment flourish. But when it came time to finish the album, it was just Pat and me.”

And back to the Uncut interview. 

Carney says, “(With other artists), most of the time we’d have the music there (already), so we were just looking for words and melody. But with Noel, we started the songs from scratch. Noel is hilarious and we hit it off instantly. It couldn’t have gone smoother. He was very meticulous about finding the right transitional chords for each section, it was amazing!”

“At Toe Rag, we were all in the room: Pat with the drums,” Auerbach continues, “I was playing the bass, Noel had his 335, and our friend Leon was on keyboards. We were just in a circle in this tiny room, recording live, working up songs in real time, literally figuring out chord changes and melodies. Every song that we got with Noel is a live-take, it just felt really good.”

Another key element I wanted to add here, in finding similar pieces on their collaboration there are details that get left out over time, or other details that get added in. All of the same answers are all similar enough that you can hopefully get a sense of the story through-out. It is literal repeated answers from these interviews from The Black Keys, that it hopefully drives home the spirit and ritualistic practice of recording and songwriting, so I am very aware they’re all similar. 

But that is the point here.

Similarly, Noel spoke about the duo on Matt Morgan’s podcast back in August of 2023, “Recently, I was writing with The Black Keys, and I’d never really met them before– that really did work!”

The sound? 

“If you can imagine my good self and them, that’s what it is. It’s not swampy blues, and it’s not my kind of guitar-pop or whatever you want to call it. It’s somewhere in between… it’s really fucking good!”

Gallagher continued, “There’s a song called It’s Only Love That Matters, and it’s really fucking good!” 

“I’d met Patrick maybe once, but I don’t know them, and they called up my office and asked if I’d be interested in writing with them and we all went at it and did like three tunes in five days.”

Once again, more details get added into the story. In keeping with all answers about recording new music, Noel somehow remembers that it was five days instead of four days, like Pat says, but let’s forget that for a second.

Noel continues, “Patrick and Dan would sit opposite each other, and somebody would play a drum beat. Dan would come up with a chord, and then I’d be like, ‘What if it went there?’. The tunes we’ve done together are pretty cool I think.”

“There was five of them (in the sessions) and one of me, I really enjoyed it!”

And so we’ve made it to the end!

The two recordings co-written and produced from this three day session in London back in 2023 would later turn out to be, ‘Everybody’s On the Game’ and ‘It’s Only Love that Matters’. 

These are of course their full titles that did indeed make the cut out of the 16-track collection for Ohio Players and were later shortened down to ‘On the Game’ and ‘Only Love Matters’, which was then also shortly revealed by Nonesuch Records on both their store and website in late January of this year.

The year prior, after said collaboration, Noel would also be hard at work on putting the finishing touches to what would eventually be the fourth LP released under the High Flying Birds pseudonym, Council Skies. 

Council Skies hit store shelves on June 2, 2023. The album contained 10 tracks and 1 bonus track on the Deluxe edition of the album. The Black Keys did not offer anything back in songwriting or recording duties for the fourth High Flying Birds LP.

OHIO PLAYERS by The Black Keys is out on April 5, 2024.

[allamericansbitch]

same! him and kelsea ballerini are really it (and dolly parton obvs) - it’s a hard time to be a country fan. Bro country is my villain origin story. But there are some great acts out there like the ones you have mentioned. Kelsea’s Rolling up the welcome mat ep was on repeat for months. Such an incredible work. Love the song Zach Bryan did with Maggie Roger’s. I feel Zach Bryan feels more Americana to me sometimes. But I tend to play fast and loose with genres, like Taylor and her goth punk.🤭 Seriously though, I’ve recently been listening to a lot of POC country/americana. They have really been locked out despite putting out some great stuff. Alison Russell is a current fav. Her recent album is amazing. And Mickey Guyton is amazing. It took her so damn long to be able to do a LP and she didn’t disappoint. Also have to give a shoutout to Yola. There is so much talent out there that isn’t given the time of day because the industry is so backwards. Respect the hell out of Maren Morris for making a stand even though she could have remained silent because she actually benefited from the system. That is real allyship.

i HATE bro country omg it sucks that its become so popular and overshadows the whole genre so much. and yeah i'd agree zach is more americana, there's way more blues in his stuff.

and im immediately putting those artists in my 'to listen to' playlist, i havent heard of them! and maren is so powerful and so under-appreciated i love her 💗

[the-theatre-swiftie]

i’m a terrible person

i know, i know, i said i was gonna post everyday and then i didn’t. i’m trying my hardest, but i just forget sometimes. sorry…

anyways, no The Girl updates except we texted a little bit. nothing exciting.

i’m on my last week of school, finally!!!! i can’t wait for normal mental health and doing things i actually enjoy (aka summer)!!!!!!!!!!!

i’ve been listening to Debut a little more, and the songs are actually SO GOOD. i’ve mainly been listening to Cold As You, Tied Together With A Smile, Invisible, and Mary’s Song (Kh My My My) on repeat. yesterday i had a mental breakdown in my bathroom because i found out that people at my school were making fun of the outfit i wore to our school dance on Friday online, but then i went to Target and bought a bunch of stuff, including a Folklore vinyl that was on sale (even though i have the Folklore LPS Record Store Day vinyl already), so yeah. proof that Taylor fixes everything. i’m listening to her on shuffle rn (Don’t Blame Me currently) cause i’m on the bus. THURSDAY IS MY LAST DAY. SHSHJAJAJSJWJWJSHS. it cannot come soon enough. anyways, i think i’m gonna sign off for now. i’ll try to be better about posting. no promises this time though!!!!

don’t forget to tag Taylor and TickPick cause i’m still hoping for those giveaway tickets!!!! thanks, love y’all!!!!!!

@taylorswift @taylornation @tickpick-blog

[morathicain]

🎶✨when u get this, list 5 songs u like to listen to, publish. then, send this ask to 10 of your favorite people (positivity is cool)🎶✨ 😘

Heeeey! Thank you for sending one back and for your amazing song list! *_*

Okay, so here we go with a mix of current songs I love:

Better days by Ali because DAMN I love the vibe and mix *_*

Red by Survive said the Prophet because this has been on repeat for quite a few evening :P

Machi Bhasad by Bloodywood because I love to listen to them in the car and I'll see them in March! *_*

Tri Kỷ - Phan Mạnh Quỳnh either as MV or live - found this on a fanvid once and have been obsessed forever since then

Lost on you by LP - I mean this is now such a vibe change but whatever xD just ... UH!

Okay, this was a damn wild mix XD still hope you'll enjoy some of it ;) have a wonderful evening! <3

[lovejustforaday]

2022 Year End List - #7

Fear of The Dawn - Jack White

Main Genres: Blues Rock, Art Rock

A decent sampling of: Alternative Rock, Experimental Rock, Garage Rock, Hard Rock, Rap Rock

As somewhat of a former White Stripes fanatic — mostly during my high school days, including a period where I once listened to Elephant religiously for a month — I have to admit that I’ve slightly mellowed out towards the band’s discography as a whole.

Don’t get me wrong; I still think that they were an exceptional band that definitely happened at the right time, and Elephant is truly a modern classic rock record. But Jack White’s supposed status as the saviour of rock and roll (that he often fashions himself to be) can get a bit tiring, particularly considering how safe the band played it on most of their records.

Certified classic Elephant aside, the next best White Stripes project to my ears has always been Get Behind Me Satan, largely understood as the most idiosyncratic and polarizing record of their discography. I am firmly one of that record’s defenders, and even I’ll say that it is bit of an overly-indulgent project, but there are definite moments of brilliance like “The Nurse” and “Take, Take, Take”.

After the very lukewarm reception that Get Behind Me Satan received, Jack White would not go on to release a similarly left-field record until years later, well into his solo career with 2018′s Boarding House Reach. An admirable project for its ambition, but if Get Behind Me Satan was indulgent, then Boarding House Reach was at times incomprehensible.

A few years later, and Jack White decides to give us not one but two new full-length LPs, including the folksy Entering Heaven Alive as well as this peculiar record.

Fear of The Dawn marries the weirdness of Get Behind Me Satan and Boarding House Reach with the sharp and concise immediacy of Elephant. It is a loose concept album of contained madness, artsy blues rock ramblings, and effortless style and personality. Jack has never felt more like the authentic rock legend he has so often been typecasted as than on this new record.

The album busts down the door with “Taking Me Back”, a total freak out of start-and-stop fuzz rock with squealing guitars. A complete and total earworm. Jack over-enunciates the hell out of the lyrics and, you know what? I fucking love it. Best Jack White song in years.

Hysteria ensues with “Fear Of The Dawn”, a frenzy of loud garage rock that hangs in the midnight air and cackles like a banshee.

“Eosophobia” is an experimental rock track that thunders and echos with its ferocious proggy riffs and Jack’s shrieking falsettos. The reprise later in the album really helps to solidify the song as the central motif of the record, with its captivating atmosphere of nocturnal thrills and paranoid urgency, as if mere sunrise were equivalent to the dawn of an apocalypse.

“What’s The Trick?” is crunchy, bluesy rap rock bravado, set to a ridiculously tight drum kit beat. This is the kind of song that gets into your bloodstream and makes you feel like an unstoppable badass. Somehow left-field for Jack White, and yet makes perfect sense for his artistic persona. “Plus one and minus one equals zero / That's a defeatist attitude” is seriously among my favourite lyrical lines of the year.

“That Was Then, This Is Now” manages to sound more like a classic White Stripes song more than anything else off of his last three albums, what with its no-nonsense, pounding garage blues (at least, until it gets to the vicious breakdown of the middle). A lovely bit of nostalgia that lives up to some of the better tracks off of White Blood Cells.

Here’s where I get a bit (very) nit-picky. “Dusk” is a completely unnecessary piece that doesn’t do much at all to set the tone or justify its existence even as a thirty second interlude track. There’s also something slightly grating about the way the repeated “twilight” lyric is delivered on “Into The Twilight” that keeps me from fully enjoying that track.

But honestly, I’m mostly thoroughly impressed and fascinated by this record, as well as being very happy for what it represents for an artist already so far into his very noteworthy career.

In fact, I think it’s safe for me to say that this is now my all-time second favourite Jack White record, including the output of both his solo career and that of his time in The White Stripes. Fear of The Dawn is an extremely effective rock record, that makes good on its promise of midnight adrenaline and musical insanity. Very pleased to have you back, Mr. White.

9/10

Highlights: “Taking Me Back”, “What’s The Trick?”, “Fear of The Dawn”  “Eosophobia”, “Eosophobia (Reprise)”, “That Was Then, This Is Now”, “Hi-De-Ho”

[dustedmagazine]

38 Spesh & Conway the Machine— Speshal Machinery (T.C.F. Music Group)

The first joint album by 38 Spesh and Conway the Machine is a needed change of pace for both of them. While it is hardly groundbreaking, it shows that they are in a good form.

Conway the Machine’s career has gone downhill since 2020. His moves to get more attention to his music forced him to record more music than he had, resulting in endless self-cannibalization. The Buffalo MC’s been repeating himself so much that listeners have stopped paying attention to new material and returned to his old, much more original and focused, work. 38 Spesh, on the other hand, didn’t even have the highs Conway had. His music was always solid, and even though he never had a breakthrough, he was always reliable as a producer and as an MC.

Their collaboration helped them overcome an obstacle. Neither is at pulling an LP by themselves. Collaboration saves them from repeating themselves too much. “Intro” already sets the tone, with both MCs trading bars like they worked together all their lives: “Went to jail for lil' money on that block they chasin' / At federal trial fightin' like Gervonta Davis / And now they hear the guards lock they cages/ Ain't seen they kids in so long, they forgot they ages.”

It’s unfortunate this is the only song they trade bars on. For the rest of the album they either deliver their verses one after another or make solo tracks (“Fireplace” for 38 Spesh). Bringing in additional help like ElCamino and Emanny spares Conway from singing on hooks, something he failed at repeatedly on his solo CDs. ElCamino on “Been Through” sounds especially in his place on chorus here: “They don't know what I been through / All this gangsta shit I'm into / Four deep, ridin' in a Benzo / Two gats hangin' out the window.”

Speshal Machinery moves back and forth between conventional boom bap and more relaxed, mid-paced production. It works for both 38 Spesh and Conway the Machine, their macho postures toned down. Keeping it under 30 minutes, Speshal Machinery is nothing special, yet nothing is special in hip hop these days.

Ray Garraty