#punk & poetry

[aeolianblues]

I'm realising of late that I am the sort of person whose favourite music and guilty pleasure songs people would not be able to distinguish from the outside, I'm the worst about it.

I like rock music, about 10 years ago you may have surmised that meant I either hated pop or felt the need to hide it. Over time, that hasn't happened, either I do openly bore of a formulaic song that is frustratingly blandly written— or just methodically mediocre and hoping for the charting/vitality without putting anything of the key artists into it (not necessarily something personal, sometimes the 'thing' in question is simply a brain...), or quite often, I just like it. I love a good pop tune. Not ashamed of that at all.

Similarly, being a rock fan, I do love a good lick! I do love a great riff or a sexy fuzzy amp tone, hell yeah. But is there music that makes me want to get up and throw a chair because I hate the artist so much? Yeah. I will openly dislike a Guns N Roses song even while singing along to the higher bits on Paradise City full-diva. And yeah I've attempted the exercise-like Sweet Child riff. I will say Slash seems a nicer person than Axl, I can't stand him and can also confirm from a friend who toured with him that it's a fucking miserable task being around that band (she suffered through the double attack of being 1) closeted gay 2) in the 90s 2.5) around fucking hair metal macho rock music cunts extraordinaire Guns N' Roses... The band would've been one short by the end of that tour were it anyone but her with the saintly patience, on account of murder. So yeah, nothing guilty there, I just openly hate them.

The thing that people couldn't tell the difference between is some of the indie music I love and the indie music I hate— sort of. I do like some cool alternative. Love me some smart indie. I'm post punk all the way. You want to be pretentious and read poetry to terse music, go for it. I adore it.

But then there's some indie, which sounds almost the exact same to the ear that doesn't look for the stories behind the artists, that I cannot stand, but in reality am really coming to like. I think I am irritated by the entire concept of the Strokes, but I do feel so cool walking downtown with the Is This It album in my ears. Cannot stand the way they're called these sort of fathers of 00s indie. That 00s NYC scene were largely annoying rich college kids who happened to make okay art during maybe the last 3 years that anyone could truly afford to be an artist in New York City (what some have described as the years just before the Giuliani NYC reforms that made it impossible to earn a living as an artist there. A part time restaurant chef now in NYC will simply not have the wages and subsequently time to be in a rock band that much. The gentrification hit music Hard, they say. I'm not a New Yorker but yeah. Same concept in Toronto).

But despite all this—and most importantly, this belief I have that if I were a classmate or housemate of many of these guys during the early 00s, I'd have hated their arrogance. Can't forget that belief I somehow have—I do still really enjoy quite a few of that period's bands.

(The New Abnormal was Not a better album than A Hero's Death though. I am still sour about that.)

Then there are some really, really naff indie bands from the 00s in the UK too, in theory I've got no time for them. I didn't quite vibe with them at 16. I also genuinely do not want to like e.g. The Maccabees. I still have some ego! I still have some pride left in me. But put on Dreaming Of You by The Coral and I'm on my toes dancing. Shoulders shaking at a desk. I'll vibe along to some really naff pop rock indie too. I just don't want to vibe to the Vaccines. Don't let me near that stuff.

But who on the outside of this nuance can really tell the difference between Wet Leg (beloved) and The Maccabees?

At least I'll never be a Courteeners fan.

[dustedmagazine]

The Spatulas — March Chant (Post Present Medium)

Wavering guitar notes and the cantering click clack of a drum machine push open “March Chant in April,” the eponymous first song from The Spatulas’ debut EP, March Chant. There’s plenty of residual amp fuzz and dusty space in the recording and two minutes, though one might be forgiven for thinking the remaining five tracks from the Oregon quartet might hold more of the same simple DIY explorations. That could be gratifying in its own right, as heard in vocalist Miranda Soileau-Pratt’s often mesmerizing and deeply lo-fi work as Miranda Spatula, but March Chant isn’t really that. In the final 30 seconds of “March Chant in April,” when Lila Jarzombek and Soileau-Pratt bring their guitars together in immaculate chug-chug strumming over Soileau-Pratt’s smirking vocal and a newly galloping drum pattern, March Chant comes alive. The following 15-ish minutes present an adept rock band that plays messy while sounding polished and fires off dissonance without sacrificing momentum.

The Spatulas’ sound is raw and charming. The band has room for the shambling tension of mid-1990s Smog (“Rescue Mission”) and, at March Chant’s most nauseated and aching, early Sleater-Kinney (“Psychic Signal”). Then there are moments like the woozy but rigorous stomper “Slinger Style” where the nimble, buzzy riffs and bouncing bass bring up Meat Puppets’ warped para-country. Throughout the record, Jarzombek’s lead guitar is blistering, particularly on “Psychic Signal,” where her playing jabs in and out of the rhythm like a single-needle tattoo gun. Despite that, and the aforementioned immaculate chugging, it wouldn’t be quite right to call March Chant guitar driven. It’s a full band record. The unshakeable rhythms from Kyle Raquipiso’s understated drums and Jon Grothman’s expressive bass fortify the six-string slashes and Soileau-Pratt’s declamations – Grothman is particularly articulate in his flowing line on “Rescue Mission.” As a vocalist, Soileau-Pratt can both ride low in the instrumental around her and pick her spots to stand out. Within the lurching swing of “Slinger Style,” she croons some of her lyrics slightly away from the music, then hops back up into perfect unison with the athletic central riff. It’s not quite a chorus, but it has that effect. Hers is a creative, unpredictable style, shifting with ease from gleefully offkey punk sneering on “Psychic Signal” to a sing-song shoegaze wistfulness on “Curvy Color.” Something like the way Patti Smith can drift between a poetry reading and a belted rock refrain in just a few lines.

While nothing here quite achieves the grainy punch or weird feedback haze of The Spatulas’ live releases, March Chant never lets go of the listener. For such a short record, it sounds complete, not a perfunctory teaser for something more fully realized. The band describes their formative jams in a Portland-area storage space as a response to their “mounting frustration with those dreary pandemic days,” and while the lineup has changed somewhat in the years since, March Chant retains the qualities that may have brought the band together again and again: the relief at venting your anger and the goofy waywardness of distracting yourself with a joyful noise.

Alex Johnson

[humanhost]

Human Host In Public : The First Two Decades Part 1 - The First “Pre-Recorded” Show, April or May 2003, St. Thomas Church in Towson, Md.

In the spring of 2003 the grindcore/speed punk band Squints, screamo heavies Beyond The Grunt Call, and ultra slop garage punks The Castrates shared a bill with Human Host at St. Thomas Church in Towson, Md. If memory serves correctly, Squints were the headliner and the Host played second to last, right before Squints. By that point we had played no more than 2 or 3 other shows and those earlier gigs featured a line up that was mainly doing a kind of psychedelic punk which was almost totally different than the electronic/beat-driven music that would soon become our signature sound. So the kid who booked us at this gig was familiar with us as a 4 or 5 piece band that had a live drummer, guitars, and all the other average instrumental accoutrements of late 20th century rock. In short, everyone assumed we were just another guitar band filling out a bill with a buncha other guitar bands.

This assumption could not have been further from the truth.

The spring '03 show at St. Thomas was the first Human Host show to feature a set of completely electronic music mixed with performance art. The only live music element was vocals; the instrumental music was pre-recorded, just backing tracks played through the p.a. - no amps, no instruments, no problem. 

This type of performance was a knod to the dynamic/dance driven shows created by some of our fave early aughts pop acts - boy bands like N-Sync and Backstreet Boys; rap acts like Three Six Mafia, Cash Money Millionaires, and Nappy Roots; the big flashy choreography of live gigs from Destiny's Child, Blaque, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Mandy Moore, and other bubblegum divas. Of course, our dance moves were never as rehearsed as any of the pop artists we loved. Our intentionally spazzed out steps resembled avant garde performance art a ' la The Living Theatre and Andy Kaufman, or the physically demanding 1920's slapstick comedy of Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Laurel & Hardy, and other surrealistic vaudevillians.

To say the least the audience of young suburban punks, Carver Center students, and metal heads really had no idea what to do other than simply to stare at us with their mouths agape. We had no records out at the time but we had plenty of lyric sheets to give out that night, an element that freaked the kids out even more. The lyric sheets highlighted the occult poetry of our interdimensional message; the artwork/design on these lyric sheets reflected an interest in the paranormal, paganism, comic book art, folklore, and other arcane visual/literary elements. In addition to the occult message, the crazy moves, and raw band-less/amp-less minimalism of 4 or 5 people running around with nothing but microphones and a billion pounds of nervous energy, we performed by the stark light of the fluorescent fixtures that hung throughout the venue. All the other acts played by dim floor lights that were confined to the stage. Our choice to have the regular lights on ( blasting us and the audience with brutal clarity) only accentuated the insane affront to rock'n'roll that we brought that evening. 

Dominic Angelella performs music today with internationally known indie acts DRGN KING and Lucy Dacus. But back in the early 2000′s Dominic was one of the Towson area’s major DIY music promoters. He was the one who booked the spring 2003 gig where Human Host debuted its electronic music mayhem. Appropriately enough, as Dominic remembers it this show was groundbreaking and controversial for reasons that transcended music, a true “ground zero” moment for the explosion of genre shattering creativity that’d soon become Maryland’s most important contribution to global arts and culture:

Dominic Angelella: “This show was a wild one for me on so many levels. I had settled in to a show-booking position I felt good about at St. Toms [aka St. Thomas Church] and this is the first time something felt off to me. Not that (Human Host) had anything to do with it; The Castrates made fliers where they did a collage of various vintage nun porn images and posted them around the city. I remember various people coming to me telling me there was a protest planned for the show, not from the religious right but from punks who found the flier sexist. Calls were made for me to cancel the gig I think?

I’m not really sure why I chose not to cancel the show, (maybe I even talked to [the artists] about this?) but regardless this gig really sticks in my mind as one of the times that cool city bands came up to Towson to play. HH really flipped my wig at the show, mainly because I didn’t expect it. I was at the first HH show at The Talking Head (in winter 2003), and thought I knew what the deal was going to be. Looking back, in many ways Human Host’s set predicted the soon to come Wham City onslaught that would siege the city, forcing musicians to choose between CCAS/Barclay and the new MICA-centric Baltimore music world.” 

Despite the fact that Human Host had done a handful of gigs prior to this, in many ways our spring 2003 set at the fellowship hall at St. Thomas Church was *spiritually the first* Human Host show simply because it was the first gig to feature our own homemade *symbiosis* of electronic music and visuals. Our sample-based collage of dancey toy synth melodies, Miami bass/Timbaland-influenced drum machine patterns, and tonal modern classical motifs never overshadowed the hyperactive performance art and vice versa. This was our way of proudly defying predictable early aughts genre conventions by melding hedonistic pop spectacles with faith-based anti-worship and art music. It was the spark that set off the many ultra weird live show explosions to come. From here on out everything Human Host did only got joyously and progressively weirder.    

[julietianboy]

:: metaliden

:: name: metaliden

:: definition: a xeniden tied to rock, heavy metal, punk, subtypes of said genres and their related aesthetics. due to them having many subtypes, it's extremely flexible, however, it will always defy or go against social norms and attempt to stand out in some way. it may also be tied to fighting for justice and against bigotry and helping your local community. it can also be extremely loud and rebellious.

:: etymology: metal [english] + iden [xeniden suffix]

:: themes: long road trips, grafitti, news playing in the background, tuning a guitar, an abandoned building, a vynil collection, magazines under your bed, loud music, band posters, watching a protest from your house, small concerts, spite, fixing your own clothes, hope, karaokes

:: suggestions:

names: rogue, bowie, jackie, rebel, angus, hendrix, alanis, keith, glen, alexandria, axel, raven, max, igor, clemente, indie, london, johnny, ramona, queen, freddie, vox, janis

pronouns: am/amp/amps, punk/punks/punks, rock/rocks/rocks, met/metal/metals, heavy/metal/heavys, anar/anarchy/anarchys, lou/loud/louds, co/com/communist

hobbies and interests: antique things, singing, music history, politics, sewing, playing instruments, poetry, dystopian media, revolutions, skateboarding, motorcycles

style: dark and neon tones, diy clothes and accessories, denim vests, ripped jeans, combat boots, bandanas, messy eyeliner, leather, 60s or 80s fashion, lots of bracelets, spikes, band t-shirts, headphones

[ for @epikulupu 's 13 day coining event ]

[ prompt: metal ]

[ghostcultmagazine]

Enablers – Zones Most people's experience of 'spoken word' music, outside of the Rap genre, is Jim Morrison's 'American Prayer'.

[voodoochili]

My Favorite Albums of 2019

As we bid adieu to a decade and a year that many of us would like to forget, let’s take the time to run through some albums that deserve to stay in our rotations at least until the onset of the imminent apocalypse. It’s a cliche, and we say it every year, but as bad as 2019 might have been in the real world, it was an excellent year for music. I listened to at least 300 albums this year and found at least 150 that I liked! Here’s the stuff that made me think, made me happy, and made me drop my jaw last year.

Some themes I found in my listening--I really like rap music from L.A. and Detroit; A few artists who I admired more than loved in the past came out with albums that I completely adored; the nebulous genre often called “afrobeats” or “afropop” has the highest hit percentage of any international scene since dub/reggae in the 1970s (the African Heat playlist on Spotify might be my actual album of the year); a lot of my favorite albums this year came from people who are clearly the product of music schools; my top four contains two excellent bedroom pop albums, and two excellent treatises on race relations in the USA.

I made a Spotify playlist with highlights from my albums list: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6S9kSm5xG3U1vPxhVyBpQc?si=0PHLV0-XQOyNY3XAVRzzAA

And in case you missed it, here’s my list of the year’s best songs: https://voodoochili.tumblr.com/post/189890284724/my-favorite-songs-of-2019

THE BEST:

10. glass beach - the first glass beach album - the first glass beach album combines chiptune synths, frayed emo vocals, jazz piano, and suite-like song structure into an exhilaratingly chaotic mishmash. Mix it with a strong dose of theater-kid earnestness and the result is the most ambitious debut album of the year and possibly of the decade, providing a peek into an alternate dimension where Los Campesinos! wrote the La La Land soundtrack. It sounds like it shouldn’t work, and it wouldn’t if glass beach didn’t buttress their boundless invention with well-crafted songs, like “classic j dies and goes to hell part 1,” the suitably bonkers intro, the prog-pop opus “bedroom community,” and “cold weather,” which shifts from ska-punk to math rock and back in 2 minutes and 20 seconds.

9. Jenny Lewis - On The Line - Long one of indie’s pre-eminent songsmiths, Jenny Lewis’s On The Line is her most personal album yet, digging deep into her childhood trauma and emerging out the other side with pearls of cheeky wisdom. Jenny’s lived more lives than most, enduring an entire career as an in-demand child star before ever even picking up a guitar; when she reached her teenage years, she learned most of her earnings fed directly into her mother’s heroin habit. Some songs like “Wasted Youth” and “Little White Dove” confront it directly (“Wasted Youth” takes the form of a conversaqtion between Lewis and her sister about their late mother), while other songs like “On The Line” and “Rabbit Hole” are testaments to the strength Lewis gained after fending for herself for so long. Appropriately for an album so focused on the past, Lewis enlists the help of rock legends like Ringo Starr, Don Was, and Benmont Tench, whose organ lends a lush poignancy throughout the album, and transforms opener “Heads Gonna Roll” from a pretty ballad to a genuine tearjerker.

8. Burna Boy - African Giant - West African music continued its quest for global hegemony in 2019, flooding the airwaves with passionate, uptempo party music. Though it was a massive year for artists like Mr Eazi, Zlatan, and do-everything superstar Wizkid, the year belonged to Burna Boy of Nigeria, his sonorous deep voice lending authority to each extravagant boast. Following up last year’s promising Outside, African Giant unleashes Burna’s full potential, drawing a through-line between Africa’s past and present--his use of multilingual lyrics, outspoken politics, and supernatural sense of rhythm updates the famous formula of Afrobeat founding father Fela Kuti for the new era. Aided by frequent collaborator and unheralded genius Kel-P, whose lush and genre-bending beats perfectly complement Burna’s melodic strengths, African Giant was 2019’s most reliable mood booster, presenting standout singles like the irresistible “Anybody,” the ambitious and easygoing “Dangote,” and the romantic club anthem “Secret,” before taking time to explain the history of colonialism in Nigeria on “Another Story.”

7. The Comet Is Coming - Trust In The Lifeforce of the Deep Mystery/The Afterlife - With a long list of collaborators and an even longer list of influences, London-born saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings’ musical ambitions can’t be confined to a single form or style. While his work with Sons of Kemet emphasizes percussion-heavy Caribbean influences and radical spoken word poetry, Hutchings aims squarely for the stratosphere with his The Comet Is Coming project, which continued its progressive jazz odyssey with two worthy albums in 2019. Elevated by the interplay between Hutchings (calling himself King Shabaka), synth wizard Danalogue, and drummer Betamax, Trust In The Lifeforce of Deep Mystery is a mesmerizing cycle of songs. Boasting titles like “The Universe Wakes Up” and “Super Zodiac,” each song searches for (and finds) a trance-like groove, transporting listeners to the far-flung locales of the song titles before reaching an emotional conclusion. A more contemplative, but still ceaselessly propulsive follow-up, The Afterlife is music for the “stargate” sequence from 2001: A Space Odyssey, providing a more optimistic counterpoint to Trust while refining the trio’s unique group dynamic. Together, the two works make an immensely satisfying head trip, offering a thrilling soundtrack for the end of the universe and whatever comes next.

6. Moodymann - Sinner - “I don’t even know what you need, but I’ll provide,” grunts Moodymann on Sinner’s simmering opener “I’ll Provide,” “Cause I got something for all your dirty nasty needs.” Possibly the most singular and beloved figure in a Detroit electronic scene overflowing with singular and beloved figures, Moodymann is known for sublimely tasteful DJ sets and sprawling solo works that fuse house music with elements of R&B, gospel, blues, and funk. By his standards, Sinner is slight, spanning only 7 tracks and 44 minutes, but it benefits from a tight focus, showcasing Moodymann’s effortless creativity. Throughout the project, the artist born Kenny Dixon approaches familiar elements from odd angles: jazzy changes and burbling Fender Rhodes invade an intoxicating two-chord vamp on “Downtown”; fellow Detroiter Amp Fiddler adds soulful auto-tune to the blissful “Got Me Coming Back Right Now.” He even manages to find a fresh way to incorporate Camille Yarbrough’s “Take Yo’ Praise,” most famously sampled by Fatboy Slim, into one of the album’s hardest-charging tracks.

5. Polo G - Die A Legend - Way back in 2011, long before he became rap’s first Pulitzer Prize winner, Kendrick Lamar took a moment to explain his ethos on the outro to his breakthrough Section.80 tape: “I'm not on the outside looking in/I'm not on the inside looking out/I'm in the dead fucking center, looking around.” It was a bold statement, but one that Kendrick’s managed to live up to, and finally we’ve found another artist with the ability to achieve all-seeing perspective on record: Chicago 20-year-old Polo G.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been blown away by a new rapper like I was by Polo G in 2019. He possesses a rare combination of melodic mastery and writerly observation, painting a vivid (if bleak) picture of his life on the South Side. His debut project Die A Legend is packed with unflinching observations about the reality of his situation, he touches on his former pill addiction on “Battle Cry” and he reminisces about talking to his younger sister through a prison phone on “Through Da Storm.” As dark as the subject matter can get, Polo never crumbles under the pressures of poverty or fame, staying afloat with crisp melodies that mix the emotional honesty of Lil Durk with the radio-ready slickness of Wiz Khalifa. He’s already mastered the art of the rap ballad, and I can’t wait to see what’s next.

4. Helado Negro - This Is How You Smile - This Is How You Smile overflows with warmth, inspiring a feeling I don’t often get from music. Listening to it feels like a long-awaited return to a physical place of comfort--a childhood bedroom, perhaps, or a reading nook in a favorite library. Our tour guide is Roberto Carlos Lange, an expert sound designer whose plainspoken, pleasantly nasal voice might be the friendliest sound in music today. The album is comforting, yet unpredictable, with songs that range from synth folk to bedroom pop to ambient field recordings, and feature lyrics that vacillate between English and Spanish. Highlights include the bouncy “Seen My Aura,” calling to mind a collaboration between The Brothers Johnson and Ariel Pink, the sweeping and mesmerizing “Running,” combining trap drums and Budd/Eno piano, and my favorite, the devastating acoustic ballad “Todo lo que me falta.”

3. Jamila Woods - LEGACY, LEGACY! - Jamila Woods has a gift for expressing complex intellectual and musical ideas in deceptively simple ways. Her melodies are like nursery rhymes, her lyrics are cutting and conversational, and with LEGACY, LEGACY! she delivers a fiery blend of artistry and activism that rivals peak Gil Scott-Heron. These songs are bold and truthful, tackling heavy subject matter with a delicate touch, commenting on cultural appropriation on “MUDDY” (“They can study my fingers/They can mirror my pose/They can talk your good ear off/On what they think they know”), sexual assault in “SONIA” (“I remember saying no to things that happened anyway/ things that happened/I remember feeling low the mirror took my face away”), and the value of protest on “OCTAVIA” (“It used to be the worst crime to write a line/Our great great greats risked their lives, learned letters fireside/Like a seat on a bus, like heel in a march/Like we holdin' a torch, it's our inheritance”). With songs named after her artistic heroes (a convention that has become a bit trendy, as Rapsody and Sons of Kemet have pulled similar tricks for their recent projects), LEGACY! LEGACY! Is Woods’ audacious attempt to establish herself as an heir to that formidable tradition--one that succeeds without reservation.

2. Raphael Saadiq - Jimmy Lee - A force of nature with one of the most underrated back catalogs in the game (he made hits with Toni, Tony, Tone in the 80s, was a major force behind Neosoul in the 90s and 00s, and produced Solange’s A Seat At The Table in 2015), Raphael Saadiq’s latest is his most powerful effort yet, inspired by the tragic tale of his older brother Jimmy Lee, a heroin addict who died of HIV.  Jimmy Lee tries to find the universal through the personal, taking a deep look into how drug addiction can tear a family apart. Throughout the project, Saadiq approaches his brother’s illness with radical empathy, singing from his perspective on the dangerously alluring “Something Keeps Calling,” and the zonked out “I’m Feeling Love.” He uses his personal tragedy as a springboard to talk about larger issues on the twinkling, self-explanatory “This World Is Drunk,” and the seething spiritual “Rikers Island.” The album veers from style to style, connected with a sound effect that mimics a channel changing on an analog TV, encompassing Prince-like grooves, languid quiet storm, simmering funk in the late Sly Stone mold, and taking detours into hip-hop and traditional gospel. Connecting it all is Saadiq’s raw passion, echoing the pain of everyone who’s lost someone to substance abuse, and singing as if his tenor is the only weapon powerful enough to end the epidemic.

1. Yves Jarvis - The Same But By Different Means - There’s a song on The Same But By Different Means called “Constant Change,” in which Jean-Sebastian Audet layers his voice into a cacophonous symphony and repeats the title phrase for 30 seconds til he reaches an abrupt crescendo. In his first project under the name Yves Jarvis (the 22-year Montreal native used to record under the name Un Blonde), “Constant Change” is his animating philosophy, guiding each second of the most surprising masterpiece of the year. A thrilling and unpredictable effort, The Same But By Different Means overflows with sonic and melodic ideas, shifting and beguiling with unexpected shifts and sounds. The album gets its power from this fluidity--sounds burst into the mix and fade away without notice; songs mutate from one genre to another (traces of freak-folk, tropicalía, funk, and a lot more) within the span of 2 or 3 minutes. It’s a hazy, dream-like collage, at times evoking the likes of Nick Drake, Joni Mitchell, and Nicolas Jaar; the least expected sound-a-like occurs on “That Don’t Make It So,” which could easily be mistaken for an outtake from D’Angelo’s Voodoo. No hour of music in 2019 was more calming, yet more invigorating than this one--an eclectic and restless monument to Audet’s creativity and an addicting, absorbing soundscape. I listened to hundreds of albums this year, but none of them hit me quite like this one.

THE REST:

11. Cate Le Bon - Reward  12. Big Thief - U.F.O.F./Two Hands  13. Vampire Weekend - Father Of The Bride 14. Jay Som - Anak Ko 15. Raveena - Lucid 16. American Football - American Football 17. Purple Mountains - Purple Mountains  18. Kelsey Lu - Blood 19. Pivot Gang - You Can’t Sit With Us 20. Gunna - Drip Or Drown 2 21. Great Grandpa - Four Of Arrows 22. G.S. Schray - First Appearance 23. Bandgang Lonnie Bands - KOD 24. Marika Hackman - Any Human Friend 25. Mavi - Let The Sun In 26. Spellling - Mazy Fly 27. SAULT - 5 / 7 28. Juan Wauters - La Onda De Juan Pablo 29. 75 Dollar Bill - I Was Real 30. Maxo Kream - Brandon Banks 31. Brittany Howard - Jaime 32. J Balvin & Bad Bunny - Oasis 33. Rio Da Yung OG - 2 Faced 34. Desperate Journalist - In Search Of The Miraculous  35. Angel Olsen - All Mirrors 36. 03 Greedo - Netflix & Deal/Still Summer In The Projects 37. Doja Cat - Hot Pink 38. Lambchop - This (Is What I Wanted To Tell You) 39. Sada Baby - Bartier Bounty 40. Rucci - Tako’s Son 41. Floating Points - Crush 42. Bat For Lashes - Lost Girls 43. Young Thug - So Much Fun 44. Samthing Soweto - Isphithiphithi 45. Kim Gordon - No Home Record 46. Sandro Perri - Soft Landing 47. Anthony Naples - Fog FM 48. Quelle Chris - Guns 49. Sleater-Kinney - The Center Won’t Hold 50. Tyler, The Creator - IGOR

Honorable Mentions:

Billy Woods & Kenny Segal - Hiding Places Caroline Shaw & The Attaca Quartet - Orange Leo Svirsky - River Without Banks Martha - Love Keeps Kicking Nilüfer Yanya - Miss Universe Drego & Beno - Sorry For The Get Off The Japanese House - Good At Falling Tree & Vic Spencer - Nothing IS Something Spielbergs - This Is Not The End Fireboy DML - Laughter, Tears & Goosebumps Dee Watkins - Problem Child Daniel Norgren - Wooh Dang

TOO MANY MORE TO NAME--could’ve listed up to 80

[doomedandstoned]

Meet Corey G. Lewis, The Dude Who’s Bringing Grunge Back

~By Jamie LaRose~

Art by Ben House

With the new album sinking into our consciousness, 'Deathspiration' (2018) by The Misery Men invokes the necessity to dig a bit deeper into the creative processes behind its craft. I had the chance to follow-up with Corey G. Lewis, mastermind of the music, and take a glimpse at the band's evolution as portrayed by sound. Deathspiration was recorded and mixed by Steve Jones of Ancient Warlocks at Big Sound Productions in Seattle, and features Jones as drummer.

Deathspiration by The Misery Men

Deathspiration by The Misery Men

The intro track is reminiscent of reflections, leading into a blasting presence of a second track. This album seems to tell a diverse story, can you explain some of the inspiration behind Deathspiration?

Well the intro track is sort of an homage to Neil Young’s Dead Man soundtrack. I’m also really into Dylan Carlson and EARTH. Before I discovered Earth, I’d always described The Misery Men as, Western Doom Noir. That’s evolved into me describing it as Stone Drone. Nevertheless it’s reminiscent of the space between the notes, and the chaos that occurs. The song Sughrue is about C.W. Sughrue, a character from the book Last Good Kiss by the late great James Crumley, also an old friend. Sughrue is a Private Dick that goes off looking for missing woman. “Like a train” barreling down the highway, from Montana to Mexico.

Oh, most importantly, the inspiration behind Deathspiration is the evolution of me as a human. The cathartic shedding of skin. "Harnessing the Darkness" and riding the waves. Sometimes I feel we might be desperate to reach death, to know the truths, while we attempt to be inspired to live life, as we pass through all the adversity, and perspiring blood, sweat, and tears in these moments of our existence.

Deathspiration by The Misery Men

Do you have any secrets of sound to share? What types of techniques present The Misery Men persona?

My secret sound really is simplicity, and the ghost of Leo Fender haunting my amp. I run a 70’s Music Man 112 RP 65-watt amp with an EV bass speaker, through a 2x12 THD Cab, with a phaser pedal, and a Little Big Muff. A wall of fuzz, that is grizzly, meaty, and punchy. I don’t really try to be the tone guy, but I get more compliments about my tone than anything else.

Deathspiration by The Misery Men

"Night Creeps In" presents itself to me as the vertex of the Deathspiration story, it feels ritualistic and defining. Are there any rituals you perform while in the writing process?

This song in particular was written after a girl I was dating for only a week, told me she was going to kill herself. It was pretty heavy, and at the time she texted me, I was walking past Lone Fir Cemetery and wrote her, “sometimes the night creeps in, looking wretched weak and thin. Smiling with its meathook grin.” It was a very heavy experience. When I wrote this song about seven years ago, I was just really getting deep into Dax Riggs of Acid Bath. He’s definitely had a big impact on my music writing since moving to Portland.

Deathspiration by The Misery Men

Aside from the release of Deathspiration, are there any other exciting current happenings with The Misery Men?

We played at Dante’s not long ago with Chris Newman Deluxe Combo. Chris is quintessential to the Portland rock scene and to the whole Pacific Northwest in general. He is famous for his band Napalm Beach, who released their first album in 1981. Without Napalm Beach, The Wipers, and Dead Moon, well Seattle “Grunge” just wouldn’t sound the same. We might all still be playing Hair Metal!

Officially, Deathspiration has been out since last December, but this week it will launch on all digital platforms worldwide. This fall around September or October, expect a new two-part album to drop digitally, recorded by Witch Mountain and The Skull’s own Rob Wrong! It’ll feature 3-4 different local bass players and a couple local drummers, all guitars and vocals have been recorded, and bass/drums will be done by July/August. So far, we've got interest from bass players Billy Anderson (yes, the famous Sleep producer), Matt Howl (Mammoth Salmon), Wayne Boucher (Troll), and Jaden Mcginiss (Legendary Peavy owner, Doorman, Boudicca). All of this will be recorded in Rob’s basement, the same basement Elliott Smith practiced in.

I decided that my second album needed to be done sooner than later, after the 1st was seven years in the making. Deathspiration was recorded in Seattle with Ancient Warlocks drummer Steve Jones, I’m very happy with the way it turned out, it was analog with no filters, no frills, just my raw intensity. The second though I feel needs to be done here in Portland, it is after all according to Greg Sage, DoomTown. Unlike the first one, it’ll be all digital, but still raw and real, capturing my live performance sound. I’m also likely going to have a variety of drummers on the album playing different songs, perhaps even some legendary Portland drummers!

This week I begin practicing with a new drummer for two upcoming gigs. On Saturday, July 6th, we'll be playing with Chronoclops and Stereo Creeps from Seattle at Misdemeanor Meadows in Portland. It's a free show. Then on Friday, July 26th, The Misery Men will be rocking Gil's Speakeasy for a $5 show that includes The Sleer and Breath. I'm Working on gigs for August on through the Fall.

Do you have any memories of childhood that are notably similar to your current state of mind? What type of things about your childhood self were spot-on about who you become? What was your favorite toy?

I knew I’d always wanted to be a Rock n’ Roller or an actor in films. Like pretty much as long as I could remember. I dressed up almost every Halloween as a Punk Rocker in the '80s. My first concert of grand scale was Poison and Warrant 1989, in Bozeman, Montana -- I was in 5th grade. That show changed my life. I also dug rocks in my grandparent’s backyard, but not for pleasure -- my grandfather took advantage of child labor! I’m a rocker through and through. I think I’ve followed my dreams pretty spot on.

Favorite toys were probably GI Joe’s, Star Wars, or my SEGA Genesis. I also built wood swords from fence posts and painted them with finger nail polish as a kid. Think I may have accidentally got high!

What was the moment when you could feel music has become a part of your life? How has writing music helped you, and those around you?

Well, ever since I could remember music was a part of my life. Listening to my mom’s old tapes and records as a kid really impacted me. I was always surrounded by music, my grandparents owned a Rock n’ Roll bar I’m the ‘60s, '70s, and '80s, called The Wrangler Bar in Livingston, MT. It’s featured in the film Rancho Deluxe about some wild young cattle rustlers, starring Jeff Bridges, and Sam Waterson. There’s a scene with Jimmy Buffett playing "Livingston Saturday Night" while Jeff and Sam play Pong. I’ve played that same machine as a kid! There was always a jukebox, I loved playing Jefferson Starship's "We Built This City," Joan Jett's "I Love Rock n’ Roll," Ozzy's "Bark at the Moon," Pat Benatar's "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" and "Hell Is For Children," and Billy Squire's "The Stroke"!

In 7th and 8th grades, I really was into The Doors, The Beatles, Hendrix, and I was in a English class for kids who couldn’t really focus on reading Lord Of The Rings. In this class our teacher would have us listen to our favorite music at home, then with the feelings we got, write our own poetry. I often listened to Hendrix, especially Axis: Bold As Love and Electric LadyLand, so there were plenty of references to fantasy in my early lyrics. This really helped me learn to become a lyricist, and take an interest in poetry. Most importantly, it gave me an outlet. Around the same time, I got heavy into Henry Rollins. When I saw the video for "Liar" with Hank all painted red, I thought, “I wanna be that guy!” I bought Get in The Van and it became my Bible. All the while I was into Nirvana, Alice In Chains, and Soundgarden.

Is there a way to describe when you feel most productive or most relaxed? How is your state of mind best explained while writing music?

I’m most productive when I feel inspired. Or when the Sun is out and I’m well rested. I like the Sun, except in extreme heat, then I wanna murder the Sun. I was born at night, so I’m a Moon child. I definitely get more inspired and productive writing at night. A few years ago when I was reworking an old song that turned out to be Harness The Darkness, I took a wee bit of LSD or mushrooms -- I’m more of a microdose kind of guy -- found myself going down some deep wormholes to connect a lot of dots that would go on to make up the six verses of the song, that I eventually dropped into four, because it was the most exhausting song to play! I’m a Beatnik kid. I got into the Beat style of writing early on. So, letting the stream of consciousness come flowing out seems to work well for me. I can keep a pretty decent rhyme or off rhyme too.

What is the most peculiar thing that anyone has ever said to you?

Hmmmm. Can you keep a secret? From experience, always tell them no, because sometimes people will lay some heavy shit on you, and maybe you didn’t want to be that person to carry their burden. I’m not a Priest, or a therapist, sometimes it’s fine to listen to friends, but there’s some things you can’t unhear or unsee!

Do you have a message for the universe?

I call it the "Megaverse," as coined by quantum physicist Leonard Susskind -- but my message is to be real, be compassionate, be loving, be forgiving, be understanding, be courageous, be ever evolving, and in the words of E.T.: “Beeeeee Gooooooddd.”

The Great Misery Men Giveaway!

Don't miss your chance to add the gritty album Deathspiration to your library! Grab one of the Bandcamp codes below (first come, first served) and redeem it right here.

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[buttonpoetry]

me & tyler jump into the pit head first even though four older boys got patches that say NO BLACKS & NO QUEERS & I flinch & cover my head when the drum kicks too sharp & I don’t know what could be more black than that

FROM THE VAULT! Hanif Abdurraqib, "At My First Punk Rock Show Ever, 1998"

Featuring at Button Poetry Live, May 2016. Become a member! Support Button Poetry.

[whileiamdying]

March 20, 2019 | Felix Contreras -- When Alejandro Escovedo and his backing band known as Don Antonio set up behind the Tiny Desk, their first sounds were blistering loud. That's when we broke the news: We wouldn't amplify Alejandro's voice. We got a slightly sullen look from the band; but despite the toned-down volume, they were all still amped up. The musician, who once opened for the Sex Pistols, obliged with a smile and seemed to appreciate the difference between being pelted with spit and debris by punk rock fans and being showered with loving appreciation in the NPR Music office. Escovedo pulled the three-song set from The Crossing, the most recent chapter in his ongoing odyssey and a typically hard-rocking, literate saga about two teenagers looking for their American Dream of rock and roll and beat poetry. The close quarters of the Tiny Desk allows for a kind of backstage insight into the musical and visual interplay between Escovedo and the veteran Italian band Don Antonio. Lead guitarist Antonio Gramentieri is the perfect foil for Escovedo, who adds a heavy dose of edginess to the sound with his power strumming. Alejandro Escovedo fans are a close-knit group. We've followed his lead and have been treated to various musical aggregations over the years. But as you see in this video, this setup seems to be working just fine and may be his strongest yet. Set List "Teenage Luggage" "Something Blue" "Sonica USA" Musicians Alejandro Escovedo: lead vocal, guitar; Antonio Gramentieri: vocals, guitar; Denis Valentini: bass; Matteo Monti: drums; Nicola Peruch: keyboard; Gianni Perinelli: tenor sax; Franz Valtieri: baritone sax Credits Producers: Felix Contreras, Morgan Noelle Smith; Creative Director: Bob Boilen; Audio Engineer: Josh Rogosin; Videographers: Morgan Noelle Smith, Kimani Oletu, Kara Frame, CJ Riculan; Associate Producer: Bobby Carter; Production Assistant: Adelaide Sandstrom; Photo: Claire Harbage/NPR

[merzbow-derek]

SHOW US YOUR JUNK! EP. 18 - LEE RALDO (SONIC YOUTH) | EARTHQUAKER DEVICES

We’ve had a running bet around the office about who might be the first artist to drop trou in an episode of Show Us Your Junk! Today’s your lucky day, Sonic Youth fans, because Lee Ranaldo is not that artist. But he came close. And he did expose us to a custom sixteen-string guitar built by Steve Albini with only high E strings and a penis inlay. It says, “Sonic Sixteen.” “That’s one of the bossest headstocks you’ll ever see in your life,” says Ranaldo. “So that’s that.” In thirty short years, Sonic Youth produced one of the largest and most stimulating bodies of work of any American rock band. Their catalog spans 16 studio albums, 4 “best-of” compilations, 6 feature-length videos, 46 music videos, 8 Eps, 21 singles, 8 improvised SYR recordings, 8 authorized bootlegs, 16 soundtrack and compilation appearances; and hundreds – actual hundreds – of guitars. They married hardcore punk with fine art, free-improvisation, beatnik poetry, musiqué concrete, contemporary classical composition, pop-rock, and selfless democratic collaboration to produce a polyamorous cacophony of tension and release that’s often imitated, but never replicated. During the latter third of their career, Sonic Youth set up camp in their Echo Canyon East recording studio on Manhattan’s Murray St. where they recorded their 2002 album with the same name. In 2006, they decamped to the opposite shore of the Hudson River to Hoboken, NJ to set up shop at Echo Canyon West, where their junk currently resides. The control room in Echo Canyon West is built around a 2” 16-track Studer A800 tape machine and a modified Neve 5106 mixing console. Since the 5106 was built for broadcast applications, it has no mic preamps. Audio signals are routed to preamps, outboard gear, and tape – bypassing the console entirely. Likewise, they shun plugins and prefer to commit sounds to tape as early as possible. Edits are performed manually using a grease pencil and razorblade to slice and dice entire takes captured on tape. The studio’s live room is lined with amplifiers – combos mostly – including an early ‘60s Fender Super Reverb (Lee’s amp of choice), a brownface Princeton modded by NYC amp tech Harry Kolbe, and the exact ‘50s Tweed Deluxe model like those used onstage by Neil Young during the Goo tour back in 1991. “It’s not really roadworthy,” says Ranaldo, “but it’s got that classic old Fender sound.” Guitar-wise, Lee mainly plays his signature Jazzmaster modified with Fender Wide Range humbuckers like those in his early ‘70s Telecaster Deluxe ¬– his first “serious” guitar. When Sonic Youth’s gear was stolen in 1999, Lee’s first Telecaster was among the guitars taken and was one of the few pieces recovered, albeit with a new powder blue finish courtesy of the thieves. Perhaps the most interesting lost-and-found item is Lee’s Travis Bean Artist (no. 375) played on the song “Kool Thing” (Goo, 1991) which “looked like someone had stuck it in a campfire for an hour or two” and “looked kind of cool,” but has been restored to its original condition at the request of Sonic Youth’s crew who “couldn’t stand the way it looked,” says Lee. Upstairs is the master tape archive where the entirety of Sonic Youth’s recorded output is painstakingly cataloged. If you’ve made it this far, then we probably don’t need to say too much about the mixdown reels for Evol, Daydream Nation, Sister, and so on. But we’ll keep a lookout for the possibility of an SYR record with Nels Cline. Video: Vice Cooler Music: Lee Ranaldo

[mynameischalie]

Frank Turner and The Sleeping Souls with the Menzingers, Lucero, and Homeless Gospel Choir @ The Fillmore 6/5/18

The first time Frank Turner came to Philadelphia he played a house show at the Titan House in 2009. I was not at this show but I specifically remember when it was announced via word of mouth. He made sure to mention it fondly at last night’s show. Later that year in the fall of 2009 he opened for the Gaslight Anthem but his part of the bill was not on the Philly date (Broadway Calls were the opening band) The first time I saw Frank he opened for Social Distortion in 2010 supporting Poetry Of The Deed. The second time I saw Frank Turner was the Tape Deck Heart tour in 2013 at the Electric Factory. Now 5 years later Frank Turner is playing a sold out Fillmore. What an absolute rise from the bottom to the top.

When I arrived to the venue the Homeless Gospel Choir was already performing. On stage was a man with his acoustic guitar covering topics of seasonal depression and how he still hates his sixth grade teacher who told him he wouldn’t amount to anything. Remember people this is why you never say things like this to kids because 30 years later they still remember it! Throughout his set he confessed his absolute love for punk rock music and how he was an outsider! In his words punk rock music saved his life. While listening I couldn’t help but think of people in my life.  All I could do while I listened to this dude tell me how punk rock saved his life was think, “Wow. Why did my friend waste all that time going to chemotherapy? I guess we should have just played him a bunch of Black Flag records.” Anyways, while I really wasn’t into his music he had good intentions and I did genuinely like his message so there’s that.

Lucero. Ok. WHAT THE HELL. THEY WERE AWFUL. This was easily the worst set I saw from a band in a long time. This is coming from someone who likes and enjoys their music as well. I have the records, I like the songs, I seen them before and they were good. However, they played FIVE songs and they were all from the new record due out in August. This band has 10 albums of material and decided to play this set. People were PISSED. I was sorta embarrassed to call myself a fan afterwards. They are capable of much better. 

The Menzingers got the direct support tag since they were in their hometown. The lights went out and they started playing the president’s speech from the movie Independence Day. You know “We will not go quietly into the night” before blasting right into “Tellin’ Lies”. The energy from the crowd immediately intensified as everyone started singing along to the hometown boys. They rattled off a bunch of songs from Impossible Past and After The Party (Mexican Guitars, Nice Things, After The Party, Thick As Thieves) but I will say it’s weird to not hear “Burn After Writing” after “Good Things” as it was played towards the end of their set rather than back to back.  Things weren’t completely smooth either as Greg’s amp blew up but Tom held it down while it was fixed by the crew. Solid job. They played their new song “Toy Soldier” which sounded really good live and got a positive reaction from the crowd. They also decided to finish with “Lookers” which was fine but I rather a stronger closing song. Overall though, they played a great 45 minute set and I was thrilled they were bumped in favor of Lucero. To those of you reading this it won’t be the case for your city as the Menzingers will be the second band on for this tour.

Setlist

Tellin' Lies

Good Things

House On Fire

The Obituaries

Thick as Thieves

After the Party

Nice Things

Mexican Guitars

Toy Soldier

Burn After Writing

I Don't Wanna Be An Asshole Anymore

Lookers

Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls took the stage around 9:40 pm to a rowdy crowd. He came out blazing with 1933, Get Better and The Next Storm. He informed the crowd that he had a couple rules #1) Don’t be a dickhead. #2) Respect the people around you. It’s good to know that Frank is looking out for people. It was also intriguing when he asked how many people were seeing him for the first time as more than 3/4 of the crowd raised their hand. This means he successfully reached out to a new group of people which means his music is extremely relevant right now. Frank’s message during the night was “Be More Kind” and he admitted he knows it’s simple but our lives can be much better if we take each day and live by that motto to each other. I can totally get behind that message. His set was very lively and extremely fun as he encouraged all the small girls to crowd surf. During the middle of his set it seemed like he practically had to beg people to do a circle pit (The age late 20-mid 30s at this show indicated they didn’t want to do it but they amused him anyways). How did the new songs sound you say? They were great! Well Be More Kind which is kind of dud didn’t go over well as fans tuned out and started playing on their phones but the rest (Brave Face, Blackout, and Make America Great gain) were all hits. 

Some of my favorite songs of the night were Father’s Day and I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous which truthfully people didn’t know cause they oddly got no reaction from the crowd. This just plays into people getting into him through his recent records which is fine. Frank made sure to play some requests he received on Twitter and joked the person wanted to hear something old and asked for this “Tattoos” which is from 2013. So if I’ve been out since 2007 what’s old?  He then gave props to the Titan House house show which was the first show he played in Philly in 2009. It’s really cool to see hear that he remembers that show fondly.

Other than that, he did a four song encore which involved him coming straight in the middle of the crowd to sing and dance with everyone. Frank was in a hardcore band before he went solo so all of this is normal for hardcore/punk bands (basically this is straight up what UK’s hardcore band Gallows did in the mid 2000s) however if you’re a casual fan of him this will be surprising and cool. The amount of phones that went up to record was INSANE!  He ended up getting off the stage at 11:30 pm. It was a LONG set. It was well worth the money and he absolutely performed well. If I had to pick one of my favorite sets so far for this year this one would be high up there! For all of you going to this tour enjoy and don’t forget to get a round in at the bar. 

1933

Get Better

The Next Storm

Recovery

Little Changes

The Way I Tend to Be

Be More Kind

I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous

Father's Day

Brave Face(Live debut)

If Ever I Stray

I Am Disappeared

Make America Great Again

The Opening Act of Spring

Tattoos

St. Christopher Is Coming Home

Blackout

Out of Breath

Photosynthesis

The Sand in the Gears

Four Simple Words

Polaroid Picture

[dustedmagazine]

Dan Melchior — Welcome to Redacted City (Midnight Cruiser)

Welcome To Redacted City by Dan Melchior Band

The title comes from an odd, lo-fi interval called “Slamming the Tent Door,” an eerie conglomeration of guitar noodling and amp buzz and ominous, echo-shrouded murmurings about the surreal “redacted city.” It’s an outpost in Dan Melchior’s volume-fried punk alterative universe, where insects teem and colonels plot, and no one really knows where they are. It sounds simple, but in practice turns devilishly opaque, shape-shifting and evocative.  

Welcome to Redacted City brings together all of the things you might love (or come to love, if you’re just getting here) about Dan Melchior’s work, the frayed distortion, the seething sarcasm, the vintage sci-fi, b-movie surreality. He sees you pretending that you don’t watch Real Housewives, and he knows.

Dan Melchior recently moved from North Carolina to Austin, but in this, his first album of 2023 (following three in 2022, according to Discogs). He hasn’t altogether abandoned the Tar Heel State, however, because his band includes a couple of players from the Spider Bags—Chris Girard on bass and Clark Blomquist on drums. Anthony Allman, the keyboard player with whom Melchior recorded the much more abstract and experimental Depth Boys album last year, fills out the band.

That makes sense, because what Spider Bags did with a thick Southern drawl is very similar to what Melchior has been doing in his cracked and contemptuous English accent: infuse the most brutal, primitive sort of garage rock with a complicated sort of poetry. Melchior lets fly bright clanging guitar chords, buzzing dissonance and exuberantly simple choruses, then twists the whole thing several notches toward the bizarre.

There are 21 one songs on this one, single album, each in more or less the same palette, but as different as snowflakes. It is somewhat difficult to summarize. There are, for instance, giddy, happy-go-lucky songs that seem to have a squishy dangerous underpinning. I’m talking about organ wheedling, guitar-blaring “Going Outside,” which careens on in a carefree way, while leaving you with the distinct impression that no one should go outside. There are sharp, complicated cultural observations about the obscurest sorts of phenomena, a 1946 Joseph Manciewicz film noir called Somewhere in the Night (“Larry Cravat”), the founder of the long-running English oddball blues band, the Groundhogs (“TS McPhee”) and the Kurosawa film “Ran” (“Apologists, Controversialists, Etc.”).

Novelistic vignettes bob up from impossibly thick stews of buzz and feedback, as on “A Shot of the Master” (“What is the world’s biggest bad-ass doing today? Practicing tai chi in his special pjs. What is the world’s most feared man doing tonight? Watching Sex and the City with a glass of Amstel light.”) And yet, though the discourse is sharp and knowing, he’s got very little patience for your pretensions; see him rip the cover off your low-end television habits in “I Watch TV.”

If you’ve ever caught Melchior live, you’ll know that the elegance of his argument in no way compromises the force of his delivery—and this is true on the current disc as well. The man plays loud and hard and sharp and with a good bit of noise embedded, and his band is well up to the task as well. Welcome to Redacted City offers the cleansing fury of garage rock primitivism, but it is not the least bit primitive.

Jennifer Kelly

[genericrecordreviews]

Saccharine Trust, Paganicons (bootleg, 2014)

During the lockdown I haven’t been getting many records. I also somehow need the comfort of the staples of my collection more than the adventure of getting into newer stuff. Also, my amp suddenly broke down last week. So I’ve been listening to records just on one speaker. At least I still have a house and a job. And a speaker. Can’t complain.

Ahhh, early SST Records. You were so good. Paganicons came out in 1981 and stands out as one of the milestones on the road from LA punk to whatever experimental clusterfuck came after that. Of course Joe Baiza would showcase his incredible guitar skills on later records, but on these short eight songs the bands hits the sweet spot of punks shaking off their chains and running to the other side of the mirror.

For what is widely considered to be a somewhat hardcore record, it isn’t loud at all. Mike Watt lending a helping hand to Spot at the production is really an indicator of what they went for here. As many of the bands that became legendary from this era, they really only sound like themselves, but if you could draw a line that goes from the Germs to the Big Boys to the Dead Kennedys, Saccharine Trust would be caught in the tangle.

Everything is special about this record, but nothing hits you hard like Jack Brewer’s lyrics and delivery. Sounding like a speed-addled punk crashing a slam poetry show, he proceeds to hold a mirror up to (mostly) men’s worst vices: the principle-bending, secretly violent, turn-a-blind-eye-to-injustice, ambitious-as-in-oppressive, tyrannical, warmongering men of the modern West could learn a thing or two from Paganicons. This bootleg sounds great and comes with a beautiful lyric sheet.

Click here to listen to Paganicons on Spotify.

Follow GRRAWR on Instagram to get a weekly record review every Wednesday in your IG feed.

[chakazard]

John K Samson, Chaka, and Virtute the Cat

Personally, I find that one of the best, or to be more strictly accurate, one of my favorite ways to handle negative feelings is to find music that fits the feeling and let the song bleed it out of me.  A year or so back, I was having a particular rough time, and none of the music in my arsenal was cutting it.   I don’t know why, perhaps because most of the depressing music I know revolves around heartbreak, and my marriage is one of the few parts of my life that doesn’t drive me into despair.  So I start searching around for songs for or about depression and nothing is really hitting me.  I’m finding, you know, a lot of slick slow ballads with vague lyrics and predictable changes and it’s all very sad-by-design and  that’s just not what’s going to latch on to my heart so I decide to look for depressing punk songs.  I find, maybe on a reddit thread although I haven’t been able to relocate it, two recommendations that absolutely hit the spot.  Off With Their Heads and The Weakerthans.  I don’t think two artists ever sprung so quickly to the list of my all time favorites.

The song in particular that was recommended from The Weakerthans is “A Plea From a Cat Named Virtute” which is from the perspective of a feline whose human companion has begun to neglect her as he spirals deeper into apathy and alcohol and isolation.  She urges him to reconnect with the past,  and promises to help take care of him if only he’d reverse course.  The lyrics are absolute poetry, equally art and craft, and of course they hit me particular hard seeing as I am a cat loving person with tendencies towards isolating myself when the going gets rough (”sad songs about cats are kind of my jam, I said when explaining my Vivat Virtute shirt). Both characters are incredibly full and relatable and one is a cat and the other doesn’t speak.  And of course, the whole album Reconstruction Site is incredible.  He’s constantly writing about settings and surroundings, particularly in his hometown of Winnipeg (one great city amiright?), in a way that makes it clear that he’s really singing about whatever emotion is too hard to face.  I start playing it daily to get me through the work day.  I start looking into the singer/songwriter, John K Samson.  I find that no less an authority than Frank Turner has said that the only songwriter who gets close to Samson’s level is Leonard Cohen (I got extremely happy once to see a picture on Facebook of Samson, Turner, and Fat Mike, three of my all time favorite lyricists). I google Virtute the Cat to find more takes on this incredible song.  I find out there’s a sequel.  It’s called “Virtute the Cat Explains Her Departure.”  My heart slides out of my chest and runs along the floor.  I find the song and it is even sadder than the title would indicate.  This is exactly what I needed.  The song brings instant tears to my eyes every time I hear it and it washes away all of the crap that builds in my emotions.  I keep finding new lyrics in their catalog to relate to, to obsess over.  Throw away my misery, it never meant that much to me. In love with love and lousy poetry.  Enlist the cat in the impending class war! (which I later find out is an early throwaway reference to Virtute herself) Then, in the best possible version of getting into a show right before the new season comes out, I learn Weakerthans frontman/songwriter John K. Samson has a new solo album which will contain 2 new songs which will complete the song cycle.  I honestly believe hearing the last song had a huge step in bringing me out of the seemingly never ending anxiety attack I had over the course of years.  Of course it was beautiful, of course it was perfect.  I may write more about the Virtute saga later, but this may make it redundant.

The last time John K. Samson played in New York I had to miss the show to give my best friend a ride the night before she left for Africa.  I just got to see him for the first time on Halloween at City Winery.  He played solo on electric guitar, no backing band.  He wore a black t-shirt and jeans and a hat he placed on his amp for the duration of his set.  Keeping in the Halloween theme established by headliner Craig Finn, he has a Paul Stanley star painted around one eye. He doesn’t talk much between songs, but he does refer to himself as a “Canadian singing Marxist sober Quaker”, he credits his ability to perform to the two anti-depressants he is currently taking, and he admits to stealing parts of Bob Dylan’s “When I Paint My Masterpiece” for his own “When I Write My Master’s Thesis.”  Simply, he is the living embodiment everything I’d want in a songwriter.  He played a 45 minute set while waitresses tried to take drink orders without disturbing the music, and sirens and DJs could be heard every time he silenced his guitar.  Somehow this seemed appropriate, shining the light on the realistic and very emotional lives of the people he sings about. Thankfully every note he played and every word he sung were crystal clear, both Weakerthans classics and some of the better numbers from his recent Winter Wheat album.  And yes, he did the all the Virtute songs, starting with “17th Street Treatment Center,”  which reveals how Virtute’s nameless companion does eventually find help for his problems.  And yes, I started tearing up when that song started, and that only increased when the runaway feline forgets her name (Latin for strength!).  But not as much as I feared.  This was after all a happy occasion.  Everyone at my table was also there to see Samson, and left either before or not long into Craig Finn’s set.  Unfortunately, that means they missed the encore, for which Samson joined the band (all in full Paul Stanley makeup) for 2 covers and 1 Weakerthans song (”Aside,” during which I stood up in my stool and raised my hand for the aforementioned reference to lousy poetry).  It’s pretty rare that the main act of the night invites the opener to do one of his songs.  (Finn introduced Samson by saying he felt like he knew Winnipeg already the first time he was there, and later realized it was from listening to the Weakerthans so often).  Another thing Craig Finn talked about during his set was that the ideal situation for both artist and audience is when the audience feels like the artist has taken something from their own life and expressed it for them.  Samson does this for me over and over again.  I feel very lucky to have found yet another artist to add to my ever expanding list of favorites.

[quarantinequbemagazine]

Heartbreak in Quarantine

by Julian

What do you normally do when you get dumped?

Do you:

Go out dancing with your friends?

Just cry in the comfort of your room alone?

Take a walk in the park and clear your mind?

Listen to live music at a concert?

Go on casual dates with people from dating apps?

Get messy drunk at your friend’s apartment at 2 in the morning and nearly die of alcohol poisoning?

Go out, buy a whole pint of ice cream and eat it by yourself?

These are the go-to for a lot of people, me included, but what if you can’t do any of these because you’re at your parent’s home for Spring break, with little to no privacy, and now are stuck there because of a quarantine? Ultimately, these listed breakup activities are just conscious distractions that make you feel better while you subconsciously process the relationship and your emotions, but when you’re forced to stay home, this subconscious processing comes to the forefront and they’re not always present.

For example, as someone who used to be a hardcore gamer, Minecraft has always been a comfort game for me. It’s so simple and with no obvious objectives, I could just play on it mindlessly and build to my heart’s content. When my internet went out from all the people staying at home clogging up the service, I decided I would try out a Hardcore mode Minecraft world to see how long I could survive without dying, which the game would automatically lock me out of if I did die. So I started up Minecraft and on the list of saved worlds was the world my now-ex and I used to play on, staring back at me. I immediately deleted the world, but it was too late.

Suddenly, these memories of her and I having a blast playing together, that I had completely forgotten about, played on a loop over and over again in my mind and it was impossible to stop thinking about it. I tried to get started in the world; chopping down trees, building a little shack to spend the night in, looking for coal, but the memories didn’t let up and it became overwhelming. I shut off the game, lied down in bed, and cried as silently as I could so that nobody could hear me.

Breakups are tough, but they’re on Hardcore mode when you get broken up with a couple weeks before a quarantine, and are forced to consciously confront the reality of your fragile state of mind and emotions, with no easy way to distract from it.

So what do you do when your normal post-breakup activities are no longer an option? Here are some things you can try.

Meditation

Everyone has that one friend who meditates and talks about the health benefits. From an outsider’s perspective, meditation is the 21st century snake oil that supposedly cures everything, except, coming from someone who secretly is that friend and who tries to meditate on a regular basis, it actually works. Better yet, it works even if you don’t believe it works. There are actual scientific studies that show the mental health benefits of meditation/mindfulness over a period of time, and it can be as simple as just sitting down with your eyes closed and breathing. If you ever wanted to start taking up meditation, now is a good time to do it.

From my anecdotal experience, I can say that it’s helped lift a depression-induced mental fog that kept me from thinking clearly and it helps me stay out of negative thought loops that just make me feel worse by recognizing what they are and recognizing that they’re just thoughts. I highly recommend checking out Sam Harris’ Waking Up: A Meditation Course app that comes with 5 free lessons that are more than enough to introduce you to the practice of mindfulness meditation. Google Play and Apple App Store

Music

Chances are, if you’re reading this, you’re a little punk or at least slightly alternative, meaning that you probably have a better appreciation for music than the common person. If you don’t already play an instrument, why not pick up one now? Dust off that old bass, guitar, drumkit, ukulele, vuvuzela that you’ve had stashed in your closest and just have some fun with it. Play along to some of your favorite tunes, even if you don’t know what you’re doing, it can still be a blast. I personally learn how to play at least 3 new songs on my electric guitar every time I come home for breaks because I can crank up my amp and play loud without worrying about my downstairs neighbors calling the cops on me.

If playing an instrument isn’t your thing, why not take the time to explore new music? Ask some online friends for music recommendations, let the Spotify or YouTube algorithms take you for a ride, or better yet, check out our very own in-house Quarantine Qube playlist! If you have the equipment, blast some music on your loudest speakers and just sing along or dance to your favorite tunes. Who’s gonna judge? We’re all bored out of our minds.

Read

There is no understating how good reading is as a hobby. It is the ultimate flex of patience and attention span in our fast-paced social media era. Not only that, reading is just a good way of getting out of your own head and into writers’ heads. Whether it be something like reading along to song lyrics when listening to music, shitty internet poetry, short stories, or entire novels, there’s bound to be all sorts of new perspectives you can learn from reading something new.

Want something to cheer you up? Reread an old childhood classic like The Chronicles of Narnia or Harry Potter

Want something you can read in one sitting? Check out short stories like Stephen King’s The Jaunt about teleportation that can go horribly wrong or Ray Bradbury’s All Summer in a Day about life in Venus where it’s constantly raining and the Sun only emerges for 2 hours once every 7 years.

Want to brush up on your social skills because you haven’t left your house in weeks from quarantine? Check out classics like The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck by Mark Manson and How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

Disappointed with the Game of Thrones finale? Check out the original books by George R.R. Martin, who said his time spent in quarantine has given him a lot of time to write The Winds of Winter

Nothing!

You can also do nothing, too, and it’s totally okay! This isn’t a competition and the social isolation + a breakup can affect us all in weird ways. You might feel an internal pressure to “spend your time wisely” with self-development (that may or may not stem from a hypercompetitive capitalistic environment), but it’s worth stating that it’s okay to not do something that others might view as productive. Don’t shame yourself for doing only one or none of the above examples--if just watching TikToks and eating junk food keeps you from spiraling into self-loathing and other negativities, do it! It’s okay to not be in the best mental state right now, you’re doing the best you can right now ♥

Take care of yourselves,

Julian

instagram: julian.plays.music

[nuno-moreira]

A Season in Hell & The Drunken Boat (English and French Edition)

Arthur Rimbaud

A reissue of Rimbaud’s highly influential work, with a new preface by Patti Smith and the original 1945 New Directions cover design by Alvin lustig. New Directions is pleased to announce the relaunch of the long-celebrated bi- lingual edition of Rimbaud’s

A Season In Hell & The Drunken Boat ― a personal poem of damnation as well as a plea to be released from “the examination of his own depths.”

Rimbaud originally distributed A Season In Hell to friends as a self-published booklet, and soon afterward, at the age of nineteen, quit poetry altogether. New Directions’s edition was among the first to be published in the U.S., and it quickly became a classic. Rimbaud’s famous poem “The Drunken Boat” was subsequently added to the first paperbook printing. Allen Ginsberg proclaimed Arthur Rimbaud as “the first punk” ― a visionary mentor to the Beats for both his recklessness and his fiery poetry.

This new edition proudly dons the original Alvin Lustig–designed cover, and a introduction by another famous rebel ― and now National Book Award–winner ― Patti Smith.