Refill #2: March 2023
Closing out Q1
Promises were made. Promises weren't kept. Just another day here at Plague Rages. Existence played the hits. But, at the risk of setting myself up for failure (again), this month seems...better? At the very least, I think I'll have some fun things that will slide into your inbox soon-ish.
So, if you want to see metal posts more often, may I point you towards the more expedient souls who helm Machine Music, Rennie Resmini's Substack, and To The Teeth. If you want some other quality newsletters, check out my recommendations, too.
But, holy hell, here we go. Behold, a sight rarer than the Kleyna comet. It's the monthly column that's mere weeks late. Enjoy the tunes.
Highlights:
Everything I liked this month
ALBUM OF THE MONTH: Acid King - Beyond Vision (Blues Funeral Recordings)
From: San Francisco, CA
Genre: doom / stoner
Even in the twilight of my excruciatingly boring, extremely sober existence, I still fall for precisely one ear-destroyingly loud metal album on the stoner spectrum every year. Hard to think of a better nug to toke on than the newest from Acid King. Beyond Visions is a worthy follow-up to the sublime Middle of Nowhere, Center of Everywhere in that these seven tracks once again spotlight Lori S.'s stretched taffy guitar leads and mantra-esque vocals. But where Middle had a sun-soaked glow, Beyond is darker, vaster, spacier. The new addition: Black Cobra's Jason Landrian's synths are like the soundtrack to a planetarium presentation about two stars colliding.
Cystic Embalmment - Folklore De Fond D'égout (CDN Records)
From: Montréal, Quebec
Genre: goregrind
It was a good month in the goo factory. The first of four superlative slime slingers to gunk up this list. Montreal's Cystic Embalmment does a heftier variant of goregrind that exponentially increases the output of the requisite gory elements. Even the polka parts pummel.
Décryptal - Sabazios Culte (Me Saco un Ojo Records / Rotted Life Records)
From: Québec
Genre: death metal
Me Saco un Ojo has a powerful nose for spuds and unearthed this fun little tuber from Québec. I know we're all exhausted when it comes to Inclonetations. Same goes for Incantation if its last album was any indication. However, Décryptal doesn't just plop itself atop the mortal throne to take a cat nap. It's active. And it offers its own vibe. For instance, the riffs feel greasier than typical OSDMers, as if this band lubricates its grooves with rancid coffin juices.
Depraved Murder - Unethical Terrestrial Collapse (Comatose Music)
From: Pare, Indonesia
Genre: brutal death metal
This brutal death duo from Indonesia dials up a fittingly dense take on Disgorge. But the best stuff on its third full-length is when the band takes time to explore its surroundings, feinting at melody during the coda to "Entering Into Calamity" or stitching in a nimble solo into "The Pinnacle of Vile Conceit." That makes Depraved Murder more listenable to normal people than the typical borkful BDM crew, and at 29 minutes, Unethical Terrestrial Collapse is far more digestible, too. But the band doesn't pull any punches, either. The chunky title track contains the kind of riffs that'll arouse even the most far-gone death metal degenerates.
Foetal Fluids To Expurgate - Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome (Coyote Records)
From: Italy
Genre: goregrind
On the surface, this Italian three-piece is doing an early LDOH circa Hymns of Indigestible Suppuration. However, a crusty, punky immediacy festers below the scuzz, energizing the gore-soaked patho grind. Definitely still disgusting, as the highly barfy pitch-shifted vocals can attest.
Firmament - We Don't Rise, We Just Fall (Dying Victims Productions)
From: Leipzig, Germany
Genre: heavy metal
Someone should write an essay about how good we've gotten at sounding like the past. Maybe it's because modern culture won't let anything die, as if the past is more comfortable than the present. Perhaps recording technology has evolved to the point that it can mimic any era, a weird quirk that helps allay future nausea. Whatever. I don't know. Unless it includes slams and flushing toilet vocals, you already know I'm not writing that essay. But I'd like to point out that bands like Firmament make such a pitch-perfect approximation of a bygone, idealized NWO_HM period. We Don't Rise, We Just Fall reminds me of Limelight, the memory-holed NWOBHM hard rocker that I tend to think of as the median of that stretch of metal. This is a good thing because Limelight was good, acting as a bridge between burgeoning metal scenes and the slightly proggy dragon-emblazoned van rock of the '70s. And Firmament is good because it has songs that reach past historical re-enactments. Score another one for Dying Victims.
Hellish Form - Deathless (self-released)
From: United States
Genre: funeral doom
Hellish Form's debut, 2021's Remains, was fascinating, slowing down gothy new-wave to a "funeral drone sludge" crushing crawl a la Nadja on When I See the Sun Always Shines on TV. Made sense since Hellish Form covered the Cure on an early single. On Deathless, Willow Ryan (Body Void) and Jacob Lee (Keeper) keep the pace, volume, and neat use of synths. The tweak is that the duo has developed a funeral doom variant that's as pulverizing as it is soothing, pissed as it is stirring, like a cure in the curative sense. Per the liner notes: "Deathless is meant as a judgement of the purveyors of systemic transphobia and a balm to those suffering beneath its hold."
Hyperdontia - Deranged (Dark Descent Records / Desiccated Productions / Me Saco un Ojo Records)
From: Copenhagen, Denmark / Istanbul, Türkiye
Genre: death metal
Four songs that go extra hard, challenging the throne for best straight-up death metal band with Danish roots. Watch your ass, Chaotian.
Ikarie - Arde (Avantgarde Music / Fiadh Productions)
From: Spain
Genre: doom / post-metal
Arde falls between the grandeur of Euro death/doom and the weightiness of pure-cut funeral doom. The key is Ikarie is atmospheric but in a way that's not irritatingly airy. Big, shuddering doom in the Skepticism sense is never far away. Still, while the songs have a pleasing post-metal sprawl, I'm most drawn to the segues that focus on quieter timbres and make the album all the more dynamic.
Ignominy - Imminent Collapse (Transcending Obscurity Records)
From: Montréal, Quebec
Genre: death metal
If you've got a thing for Morbid Angel and Immolation riffs, Ignominy has got you. That said, this quartet is intent on injecting avant-garde abstractness into its lurches. Think early Ingurgitating Oblivion if it were infiltrated by Negativa.
Kryatjurr of Desert Ahd - Deadly Floods of Hurricana Humiliate our Higher Grounds (Vigor Deconstruct)
From: Lightning Ridge, Australia
Genre: black metal
As always, one hell of a racket. Sounds like flying a rickety plane through the eyewall of a hurricane. In that respect, it's a great entry into wind-tunnel black metal. Those wanting riffs should go elsewhere, but if you're a textural listener and appreciate harsh noise, this will blow your hair back.
Majesties - Vast Reaches Unclaimed (20 Buck Spin)
From: Minneapolis, MN
Genre: melodeath
If the conceit was "what if we made a Gothenburg-inspired record that could've been released in 1996?", Majesties mastered it. After the first spin, these ice-melting leads and very melo melodies sink into your brain, rewire some neurons, and implant themselves in your memories. Suddenly, you've spent whole summers driving around to Vast Reaches Unclaimed. Every respin, then, is like catching up with an old friend.
The trio was recently on the Screaming Bloody Oranges podcast. Worth a listen for more background.
Ocean of Grief - Pale Existence (Personal Records)
From: Athens, Greece
Genre: death/doom
Lush and lachrymose like a more sorrowful Swallow the Sun, this Greek band writes riffs for the lonely. Right, riffs. Ocean of Grief is riffier than most, creeping into "Edge of Sanity but slow" territory with its giant chugs and gloriously downer leads. And those leads absolutely tear into you, tunneling straight for your heart. Slightly overlooked to begin the year, but don't be surprised if this starts making the rounds come list time.
REZN - Solace (self-released)
From: Chicago, IL
Genre: psych / stoner / doom
Sticking Solace back to back with Ocean of Grief is a happy accident, although I should note that I'm not legally responsible if this overload of riffs ultimately explodes your noggin. Anyway, REZN is a different beast than the aforementioned death/doomer but occupies a likeminded space when it comes to huge sonic vistas, awestruck emotionalism, and general prettiness. Sub out the tears for a smeary voyage through the astral plane and you're pretty much there. In fact, REZN is reminiscent of another list inhabitant. Where the similar Spotlights has calibrated its slow and low for Failure, Solace dials in a crushing version of modern psych. The riffs are enormous, but the vox reminds me of Vinyl Williams. The heft with the hushed: can't beat it. If Spotlights and REZN ignite something in stoner doom in the same way Cave In's Jupiter refreshed metalcore, I'd be a-OK with that.
Sea of Shit - Sea of Shit (Nerve Altar)
From: Chicago, IL
Genre: grind / powerviolence
The mid-list reverie is over, kids. In the grand tradition of Infest, Sea of Shit is here to beat you senseless. As a flip on the traditional powerviolence album's flow, Sea of Shit orders up a lot of trudge up front. It's a neat trick as it catches you off balance, making the grinding gales of blasts and distortion seem even more frenzied. By "Charismatic Authority," you're so battered by heavy body shots that you feel every riff. Rules.
Smallpox Aroma - Festering Embryos of Logical Corruption (Inhuman Assault Productions)
From: Bangkok, Thailand
Genre: grind
What up, Goredick? Polwach Beokhaimook gets down with two members of Laughing Skull on this throwback grinder. Punky splatter played with more fury than ambition. But it does have an updated extreme meanness to it. I mean, imagine this dropping alongside FETO or something.
Sortilège - Apocalypso (Verycords)
From: Paris, France
Genre: heavy metal
It's amazing to me that Apocalypso is as good as it is. I mean, I guess Accept proved you can survive member drama and still make a modern heavy metal banger even if you're all geezers, but this newest album from the reconstituted Sortilège is...good...and...has big riffs...and sounds inspired? Like, yo, that groove that opens "Attila"? Sick. I wish I didn't flunk French so I could sing along to some of these choruses without sounding like I'm clearing my throat of four successive bouts of flu, but hey, I got a whole summer to figure that out. Sponsor me, Babel? Anyway, the orchestral bombast on "Derrière les Portes de Babylone" is precisely what every Steamhammer band is missing.
Spectral Lore - 11 Days (self-released)
From: Athens, Greece
Genre: black metal
Spectral Lore hasn't always clicked with me, but 11 Days hits hard. "[A] statement of protest against the policies of the European Union regarding refugees and migrants," 11 Days' setting is "a fictional journey of survival through the Mediterranean sea using supernatural and mythic elements, based on a real event that has taken place." Spectral Lore tells that story in two modes: violent black metal and outstanding synth pieces that recall Vangelis's work on 'Blade Runner.'
Spotlights - Seance EP (self-released)
From: New York
Genre: post-metal / doom / shoegaze
Two singles from the forthcoming Alchemy For The Dead plus bonus material. This version of shoegazey doom group reminds me of early '00s Failure experimenters like the sadly forgotten Celebrity. I'll have more on Spotlights once the album rolls around, but suffice it to say, I'm all in. That bass tone. Goodness.
Tantric Bile - Amidst the Manifolds of Adraa (self-released)
From: California
Genre: grind / free jazz
Extremely hard bop, back at it again. While Tantric Bile is blasting once more, the exotica-based bugfuckery of the brilliant Baka hasn't entirely left the band's palette. Think of someone playing every Yma Sumac recording while grunting gutturals into a bullhorn as they bulldoze a china shop.
ТДК - Nemesta (self-released)
From: Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Genre: noise rock
This one came courtesy of a clutch Machine Music recommendation. ТДК has been making waves in Europe, but Nemesta is my first exposure to the outfit "from the Separatist Republic of Dobrina." Still, one hell of how-do-you-do. I think I'll be writing a more in-depth bleb soon, so I don't want to spill the beans. However, here's my quick pitch: noise rock King Crimson. You're welcome.
To Be Gentle - Loneliness Will Sit Over Our Roofs With Brooding Wings (self-released)
From: Eugene, Oregon
Genre: screamo
The blackened Unyielding Joy / Elements Conducive To Unassailable Heartbreak got To Be Gentle's foot in the metal door, and now I've decided to keep the screamo group in the mix. Heck, a solid quarter of black metal is inspired by Portraits of Past whether they know it or not, so why not further blur the distinction. Plus, this newest work from Eve Beeker is about vampires (kind of), so...yeah...metal. Don't fight me on this. ANYWAY. Loneliness Will Sit Over Our Roofs With Brooding Wings buffs screamo with post-metal's density.
Transgressive - Extreme Transgression (self-released)
From: Arizona
Genre: thrash
What more can I say about this album? Riff after riff, anthemic chorus after anthemic chorus, blazing solo after blazing solo. I'm not much of a thrash person these days, but this makes me want to get back into the game. I can think of no higher praise. The Kreator album I've been waiting a few years for. All proceeds go to Trans Lifeline.
Vomi Noir - L'Innommable Remugle et la Mélopée Cavernuleuse des Râles Agoniques (Bones Brigade Records / Bringer of Gore Records)
From: Toulouse, France
Genre: goregrind / death metal
Braindead Zine was responsible for molding my taste in goo, so it makes sense that I absolutely adore this trio that includes Braindead editor Pierre. Someone gushing over your band really is the music writer's dream, isn't it? Do you want to hear my nu metal jungle ba-ah, no, of course you don't. Anyway, L'Innommable Remugle et la Mélopée Cavernuleuse des Râles Agoniques is the most riff-focused of the goregrind albums featured this month, falling somewhere between early Carcass and later Dead Infection. That bit of bounce in the groove puts it over the top. Rips.
Xysma - No Place Like Alone (Svart Records)
From: Turku, Finland
Genre: rawk
Look, you're just going to have to deal with the fact that I love this album. I love it. It's as if the Dickies cut a desert session. It's as if Bob Rock forced Uriah Heep to listen to The Walker Brothers' Nite Flights. It might as well be micro-targeted at me. I keep saying this: if you don't like the verse, stick around for the bridge and the chorus. That's where the magic resides. Anyway, if you haven't been answering my calls over the past few months, here's what's going down: Former grinders return after a 25-year layoff and expand on the garage rock they last left us with by stocking up on the space-age synths. The Finnish quintet's new style sounds like Love-era Cult fell in love with kosmische musik and the same psych that obsessed CSSO.
Check out my favorite metal albums of the year on RateYourMusic.
People Like ‘Em:
Stuff I'm on the fence about, mostly because I haven’t listened to it enough, but is still worth sharing
71TonMan - Of End Times (Transcending Obscurity Records)
From: Wrocław, Poland
Genre: doom / sludge
It's incredible that I listen to music all day, yet this section gets longer every month. 71TonMan is a five-piece from Poland that plays doomy sludge like it's operating heavy machinery. Haven't had a chance to spin this one, but I thought its last EP, War Is Peace // Peace Is Slavery, was decent. Primitive Man stans should give it a go.
Afsky - Om hundrede år (Vendetta Records)
From: Copenhagen, Denmark
Genre: black metal
I like Vendetta Records' general vibe of Cascadian black metal from around the globe. Afsky's 2020 breakout, Ofte jeg drømmer mig død, made a lot of year-end lists. That said, I'm not exactly in a black metal mood (a real vocational hazard, lemme tell you), so I've stuck Om hundrede år on the back burner.
Arriver - Azimuth (self-released)
From: Chicago, IL
Genre: post-metal
This is why this section exists. The Chicago four-piece with the rare "various" genre designation in Encyclopaedia Metallum makes music that flies right over my head. Not for me, but people seem to dig it.
Asofy - Svanire (self-released)
From: Milano, Italy
Genre: normally doom / post-rock
I know the name and not much more, so take this next part with a grain of salt: Svanire is a detour. It's almost in that dark ambient guitar mode. What if Windham Hill's life went south, that sort of thing. Later tracks sound a bit like Earth. Cool?
Echushkya - Twilight Murmuration (self-released)
From: Columbus, OH
Genre: black metal
Echushkya does a more biting version of castle metal. 2020's The Lanterne was really solid. Haven't made it to Twilight Murmuration yet, but I'm going to guess that if you like your black metal to be as comfortable as sleeping on a rampart, you should check it out.
Enslaved - Heimdal (Nuclear Blast)
From: Bergen, Norway
Genre: prog / black metal / Viking metal
Enslaved hasn't done it for me since Isa. For what it's worth, Heimdal holds my attention longer than the last few. Not to mention, the cleans are less heinous than usual. But, yeah, I've crossed the Enslaved Rubicon. It's OK. I've made my peace with it.
Fange - Privation (Throatruiner Ṙecords)
From: Rennes, France
Genre: industrial / sludge
Privation leans more into the industrial elements of Fange's sound, and thus didn't grab me on my initial listen. Basically, me, a basic death metal idiot at all times, longed for the HM-2 riffs. Still, the album is well-constructed and deserves to be the band's breakout. If you like HEALTH but want something harder, why not this?
Fluisteraars - De kronieken van het verdwenen kasteel - I - Harslo (Eisenwald)
From: Bennekom, Netherlands
Genre: black metal
Don't tell Wyatt I haven't listened to this yet. Everything Fluisteraars does is excellent, but I had so much brutal death metal to catch up on. Priorities, my friends. Same reason why I don't go on dates, I keep telling myself. Yes. Because there's too much death metal to listen to. That's totally why.
Mace 'n' Chain - Among Ancient Pillars (No Remorse Records)
From: Skellefteå, Sweden
Genre: heavy metal
Epic heavy metal from one of the peeps from Dwoom and Feral. For what it's worth, all of my epic metal follows on Bandcamp added this to their collections ASAP. A better indicator than I.
Mithrandir - Towards the Spires of Dol Guldur (self-released)
From: Turku, Finland
Genre: black metal / dungeon synth
At the risk of alienating the entirety of the internet, I find most dungeon synth annoying, so the prospect of plopping it in the middle of lofi black metal isn't...appealing. Whatever. Everyone else loves this.
Silent Shepherd's Horn - Demo II (self-released)
From: Kansas City, MO
Genre: black metal
Since debuting in February, Silent Shepherd's Horn now has three demos under its belt. Unfortunately, I haven't had time for the newest two. Still, the 34-minute(!) closer is intriguing, blending synths with a field recording of high winds. Very much my thing.
Vitriolic Sage - 梦路 (self-released)
From: Zhejiang Province, China
Genre: black metal
Like Silent Shepherd's Horn, the downside of being prolific is that your fans might not have time for everything. That's where I'm at with this Ὁπλίτης member's other band, Vitriolic Sage. It's probably good, but Ὁπλίτης just released another one, so that's where I'm at.
How’d I Miss This?:
Stuff that I missed
Morbid Destroyer - Accursed Summoning (Nihil Verum Nisi Mors)
From: New Brunswick, NJ
Genre: death metal / black metal
Meaner than two New Jerseyans arguing with an out-of-towner over what constitutes a sloppy joe. Think if Morbid Angel's Abominations of Desolation was actually Hellhammer.
Rapid - Blackstar Oppression Regime (Dying Victims Productions)
From: Helsinki, Finland
Genre: speed metal
Rapid is going to live or die depending on your reaction to vocalist/bassist Vincent Revenge shouting "MANTI-CORRRRRRRRRRE." I love it, but I'm all in on this kind of backwater Finnish speed metal madness. (See: Pyöveli.) When Rapid is cooking, it sounds like a drunk Exorcist trying to crack the code for Agent Steel and getting nowhere close. Magical.
Street Tombs - Reclusive Decay (Carbonized Records)
From: Santa Fe, NM
Genre: death metal
You can always count on Carbonized Records to deliver the goods. Street Tombs does a deadly Autopsy that's augmented with a punky chunkiness. The reason this works so well, though, is that this Santa Fe band has a great sense of flow: always moving, always exploring.
Bandcamp Hauls:
Stuff I bought that doesn't fit into the above sections
1tbsp - It's Very Loud EP (self-released)
From: Brisbane, Australia
Genre: house
"Four Tet Is My Godmother." "Pioneer Digital Plastic Sound." "It's Very Loud." Got it? Maxwell Byrne's bouncy house hits like that one Houseum feature that sticks with you for months.
Anatole Muster - "Layers" (self-released)
From: Basel, Switzerland
Genre: fusion
This has to be my most-played song of the year thus far. Accordionist Anatole Muser is joined by bassist Hadrien Féraud and drummer extraordinaire Morgan Ågren for this sub-three-minute fusion track. Ågren's drumming is a highlight no matter where he appears, playing with a precise clatter that would make a drum and bass producer drool, but Muser and Féraud hold their own. Muser, in particular, really taps into the melancholic powers of the accordion, a sentence I never thought I'd write. Please, for the love of god, make an album. I'll give you money.
Brutalismus 3000 - ULTRAKUNST (self-released)
From: Berlin, Germany
Genre: hardstyle / gabber / techno
After piercing the zeitgeist with the timely banger "Satan Was a Babyboomer," Brutalismus 3000 has continued to refine its techniques, freshening up '90s and early '00s rave music for its own post-punk ends. ULTRAKUNST feels even more streamlined than last year's excellent Eros Massacre, pulsing with pumped-up beats and deafening bass lines. But it's definitely not "pop," possessing an edge that will draw blood if you get too close. I don't expect a lot of my friends to "get" this — the "skit" "Pontiac Parisienne" is gloriously annoying and seems calibrated to drive anyone over the age of 21 insane — but the duo taps into a lot of my musical fascinations: noisiness, chaos, etc. At the very least, who knew screaming over "nu gabber post techno punk" could be so rad?
The Cabs - Recur Breath (Zankyo Record)
From: Japan
Genre: emo / math rock
I am late to The Cabs, the Japanese group that pushed the twinkle shred element of Midwest emo to its highly caffeinated zenith. 回帰する呼吸 is The Cabs' highest-appraised work per RateYourMusic, so that's the one I grabbed. I'll probably fill in the rest of the discography when I get a spare second. And, if anyone wants to school me on this slice of the Japanese scene, please do so. I'll definitely become a devotee if you can give me an inroads.
Craven Faults - Standers (self-released)
From: United Kingdom
Genre: progressive electronic
One of 13 preorders that I'm waiting on. I have a problem. Anyway, Craven Faults! Apparently, it's "progressive electronic," a genre I've never heard of. Looking it up, it points to many albums that I'd associate with the "Berlin School." At least we've finally put "krautrock" to bed. And, yeah, Craven Faults is a more stretched-out version of that. Tangerine Dream, Ashra, etc. Except Craven Faults focuses on "[h]alf-remembered journeys across post-industrial Yorkshire." Progressive Yorkshire.
Fever Ray - Radical Romantics (Rabid Records / Mute)
From: Stockholm, Sweden
Genre: pop
"Shiver" is perfect. As someone who was obsessed with Timbaland, that song opens doors in my brain that I thought were long shut. It's also the most straightforward pop song on Radical Romantics. For example, "New Utensils" is like someone mashed up Neptunes and Lil Jon productions and took an eraser to most of them. "Even It Out" has an off-kilter new-wave energy, like Human League tumbling into a K-hole. The sparkling "Carbon Dioxide" is Arcadia's So Red the Rose as heard through a wormhole that leads to the brain of Kieran Hebden. Your guide through these twists is Fever Ray, giving maybe the best vocal performance of their career, dipping and diving around the beats while pitchshifting their voice to add a thousand dimensions.
Fuzzy Panda Recording Company - Noise for Ukraine (Fuzzy Panda Recording Company)
From: Washington, D.C.
Genre: experimental
I'd like to stress the fact that this not just noise! In fact, I'm not sure I'd even call a lot of Noise for Ukraine loud. But it is a fine collection of experimental tracks sequenced uncommonly well. Often, these comps come off as barely considered playlists, but Noise for Ukraine has a great flow. It's rise and fall is cinematic, even. Highlights include Desolation Colony's pulsating "Hostomel" and Kevin Hufnagel's gently forceful "Never Known."
The Heavy Hitters - The Heavy Hitters (Cellar Music)
From: New York, NY
Genre: jazz
While I lament that this sextet didn't deliver a rare jazz trifecta, this record is terrific. Pianist Mike LeDonne and tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander co-lead this session that nods at legends: Freddie Hubbard, Horace Silver, etc. But, to be clear, these are new compositions. The head arrangement of "Silverdust" is so good it's surprising it's not a standard. Bright, beautiful, brilliant.
Looprider - Metamorphose (Call And Response Records)
From: Tokyo, Japan
Genre: alternative rock / shoegaze
Looprider's Metamorphose bursts with the same energy that made me fall in love with Boris. Following the speaker-slaying opener "After the Flood," a crawling droner that sounds like a chopped and screwed Swervedriver, Looprider locks into a hooky version of heavy rock that prioritizes volume. Even the more laid back "Sinking" and "Cosmos," the echo-drenched album highlight that turns lead vocals over to Haruka, eventually explode with crunchy guitars recalling the '90s' most ear-splitting outfits.
Mr. Wax - Blur (Berry Good Records)
From: United Kingdom
Genre: drum and bass / future funk
Berry Good Records coming through once again. Mr. Wax is an English producer working in a variety of styles that could score PS2 games. There's drum and bass, hip hop, and more, all tinged with that early 2000s idea of futurism. This EP features four additional remixes from Berry Good mainstays, such as Strawberry Station and Jelly Bonbon.
The Necks - Travel (Northern Spy)
From: Australia
Genre: jazz / experimental
For The Necks' 19th full-length and first studio work in nearly three years, the Australian trio goes back to basics. Well, "basics" for The Necks: four 20-minute songs encompassing four LP sides. These songs feel like classic material, too: evolving slowly but teeming with rhythms and timbres if you listen closely. One of the best bands doing it.
Optic Nerve - Angel Numbers (Urge Records)
From: Sydney, Australia
Genre: punk
I loved Optic Nerve's previous release, In A Fast Car Waving Goodbye, a refreshing amalgamation of indie sounds that could've been prime Wipers and Minutemen tasked with writing jangle. Angel Numbers' lead single, "Trap Door," is slightly different, stretching out to six minutes and bristling with a post-punk nerviness. It reminds me of a more desperate Method Actors, maybe. Either way, I'm stoked.
PoiL/Ueda - PoiL/Ueda (Dur et Doux)
From: Lyon, France / Japan
Genre: prog / experimental
PoiL, the French prog band. Junko Ueda, the Japanese singer and satsuma-biwa player. An unexpected collaboration. Holy heck, is it ever a success. The three-part "Kujô-Shakujô" starts with "a Buddhist shômyô chant practiced by monks to ward off evil spirits," while PoiL bleeps and bloops cosmically. And it only gets more boundary explodey from there.
Pry - The Party's Over (self-released)
From: Manila, Philippines
Genre: punk
I went into Pry expecting something like Indonesia's Sourmilk. Instead, I was instantly thwacked by Quicksand riffs. Hell yeah. Some tracks go in a poppier direction, but those Slip riffs are always close. Got a feeling this is going to take off in the summer.
Quiet Fear - Hasta la muerte si es preciso (Illuminate My Heart Records / No Funeral Records)
From: Los Angeles, CA
Genre: screamo
Quiet Fear's screamo could be generally categorized as fitting into that Daitro/Raein stream. If that gets you to click, then I did my job. But no write-up really prepares you for the quartet's power. The vocals, in particular, are ultra-intense, always sounding like they're on the verge of blowing out. Also, gotta say, I love hearing screamo en español. This band deserves to be far bigger.
Salute - Shield (Technicolour)
From: Manchester, UK
Genre: house / garage
Chances are pretty high that I'll be editing this newsletter to salute's Ultra Pool in a few hours, a killer EP from last year that married the micro-sampling of The Field with a sped-up version of garage. [Yep. I was right. One pass with Ultra Pool, one pass with Kevin Drumm's Imperial Horizon. It's my process. Excuse the generally poor writing and typos. - Wolf.] So, given how often I jam Ultra Pool, Shield was always going to be an instant buy. And "Peach," the collaboration with Sammy Virji, doubles down on what made salute's past work engaging while adding new facets. I love how that chopped guitar lick gives way to the contrasting section of super smooth house. Can't wait for this one.
Sam Butler - Folklore (Shifting Paradigm Records)
From: Indiana
Genre: jazz
Shifting Paradigm was responsible for pressing two albums in heavy rotation last year, Johannes Wallman's Precarious Towers and Mountain Coast's Phases. Sam Butler's debut as a leader hews closer to the former, showcasing the trumpet player's skill at writing modern jazz songs that, as the name implies, have a meandering spirit and humanistic warmth.
Sam Gendel - COOKUP (self-released)
From: Los Angeles, CA
Genre: jazz
The concept was too good to ignore: Sam Gendel stripping down and remaking '90s and '00s pop and R&B hits. The results are as strange as expected. The most memorable track might end up being "Are You That Somebody," which transforms the Aaliyah classic into a bizarrely noirish bed for a computerized voice reading spam that might be a catfishing attempt on the dating site Raya. But personally, I'm pretty fond of Gendel's take on Soul For Real's all-timer "Candy Rain" and its alien beats that could be Autechre.
Signal Quartet - Second Exploration: The Music of Ben Wolkins (self-released)
From: Detroit, MI
Genre: jazz
The best thing about Bandcamp is finding tucked-away gems like this one. I'm one of six people who decided to take a chance on this record. More on this one once it's out.
Vlasta Popić - Kvadrat (Moonlee Records / Numavi / VOX Project)
From: Zagreb, Croatia
Genre: punk
The next best thing about Bandcamp is how it connects you to scenes across the globe. Not sure I would've been able to tell you that there are bands in Croatia doing a spin on Dischord-esque "punk-noise-pop," but here we are. Released in 2015, Kvadrat appears to be Vlasta Popić's swansong, as the band has been on hiatus since. That's a shame because this rips. Musically, it reminds me of something on the math rock spectrum, such as Drill for Absentee, but the vocals have a catchy playfulness that's more indebted to, like, The Slits. Anyway, this was mastered by Carl Saff, which tracks.
Why Bother? - A City of Unsolved Miseries (self-released)
From: Mason City, IA
Genre: punk
I feel so behind the times when stuff like this finally crosses my path. Everyone cool already knows about this. I'm not cool, just desperately trying to construct a record collection that is. Anyway, Why Bother? bashes out garage punk that reminds you of a bunch of things without really being any of those things. Early Husker Du riffs filtered through Beavis Frond basement aesthetics, but it's all actually Oblivians? I don't know. It's cool, though. "Where is Jodi?," about the disappearance of TV news anchor Jodi Huisentruit, is absurdly catchy.
Follow me on Bandcamp @wrambatz.
Shameless Self-Promotion And Logrolling:
Because I need money and haven't figured out a way to eat Bandcamps yet
The Black Market: "Is Nyia’s Time Now?"
Fun story: I actually started writing for other websites because I was so pissed that no one liked Nyia's Head Held High as much as I did. I wanted to correct the record. Nearly 20 years later, here I am interviewing the drummer, still trying to correct the record. What can I say? When you love an album, you'll tell people about it forever. I also wrote a bunch of blurbs. Some real good Wyatt blurbs in this one, too.
Runout Grooves: "Used Bin Challenge #1: Rhino Records"
Had the rare off day, so I took a trip to do some record shopping and made a podcast about it.
The second season has come to a close. If you missed any episodes, now is the time to catch up. Work on season three has already begun. Teaser: There's a big announcement coming in the very near future, too.
News & Notes:
So. This one is a little late. My bad. Hoping next month's edition won't be as tardy, but we'll see! I also wrote this in a rush. More thoughtful, uh, thoughts soon.
Added another newsletter to the recommendations: Lamniformes Cuneiform. Drummer Ian Cory writing about a bunch of things. Worth a sub!
Got a question? Email us! plagueragespod at gmail
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