Superbowl. Football. Sports. Finger pressed firmly on the pulse of popular culture. Et cetera.
Below is a motley playlist for you to eat, composed of all the songs and clips I've been jamming on this week. As my mom would say, I made it up all nice and fresh for you:
WATCH:
Wolf Eyes play 285 Kent
Chances are that if you're reading this, you probably know what a 285 Kent is, you've probably heard about it closing, and you probably know what that closure means to many DIY musicians and music fans down over in Brooklyn. Sad days. To celebrate the end of it all, there was a massive procession of bands and artists who filled up the space for a two-weekend-long last hurrah. While most of these farewell shows were stacked with rising stars in indie rock and electronic music, the venue's final Saturday show saw noise and avant-garde acts taking the stage for much of the night, names like Alberich, MV Carbon and Wolf Eyes all sending off the venue with a bang and a clatter and a screech. Pitchfork captured some footage of Wolf Eyes powering through an unreleased track, "Enemy Ladder 1 & 2." Check the video below for eight minutes of Nate Young screaming his brains out, free-form stoner riffs, blown-out drum loops, and John Olson holding some sort of magic noise box whilst letting loose an intermittent fistpump. Chaos. I honestly can't wrap my mind around the fact that they've been at this since I was four.
WATCH:
The Soft Moon premieres video for "Hunger"
Following up on the release of a brand new 7", Luis Vasquez of The Soft Moon has posted both tracks from the record onto YouTube. While I dig A-side "Feel" just fine, what with its driving groove that transports one to the halcyon days of EBM and post-punk, I prefer the sinister synth-drone going on in the B-side, "Hunger." I wanted to post the video here because despite its static aesthetic, the clip enhances the claustrophobia of the track to an uncomfortable degree. Warped, copied, and pasted dozens of times across the screen, the title of the song flickers and wanes as a pitch-shifted voice mutters endlessly, "I want to be happy." Thoroughly spooky, and a prime video to project onto a wall during your next sparsely-attended Halloween party. Check it below.
PICK OF THE WEEK:
Timber Timbre - "Hot Dreams"
Where: Toronto & Montreal, Canada
From: Hot Dreams on Arts & Crafts
Available: 4/1/2014
Timber Timbre is a rarity in indie rock in that they've been crafting their sound around a character, effectively turning their most recent efforts into a bizarre yet engrossing narrative. While the group's first two efforts were steeped in blues and folk tradition, the quintet has since branched out with a tryptych of albums - the self-titled, Creep On Creepin' On, and forthcoming Hot Dreams - that feature foreboding, neo-noir arrangements with plinking piano, slinking basslines, and saxophone that can change its temper from velvety to horrifying skronk on a dime. At the center of this revised sound is Taylor Kirk's newfound croon, who changed his affect from a somber woodsman's sigh to a ghoulish baritone between the group's second and third albums. To match that shift, the lyrics darkened as well, transforming Kirk's persona into that of a preying, lusting villain, indie rock's most unsettling anti-hero.
"Hot Dreams" is the first taste from the new album, a neon-lit closing-time ballad that rises and falls in a manner that can only be described as sexy. But there's something off here, as one might come to expect from Timber Timbre. Kirk (and I should really say 'Kirk's character') kicks off the song by flatly singing, "I want to dance with a black woman," an exoticizing problematic that leaves an awful taste in the mouth. Later, the antagonist's underlying violence slips subtly through the gauze, "I want to follow through / follow through / on all my promises and threats to you, babe." With Colin Stetson's sax work to round out the track with a smooth riff that crescendos into a quasi-dissonant blare in its final moments, the portrait becomes complete -- this is not a love song as much as it is a good reason for his muse to telephone the police. Unnerving as it is addictive, this is easily my favorite track of 2014 so far.
LISTEN:
Ruined Fortune - "Black And Red"
Where: Sydney, Australia
From: Forthcoming LP on Hozac
Available: TBA
I found myself first digging through the current Australian underground by way of Bed Wettin' Bad Boys, whose infectious slacker jam "Any Day Now" snuggled into my headphones on the regular this past spring. The bassist of BWBB and RIP Society labelhead Nic Warnock has teamed up with Angie Garrick of Circle Pit to form Ruined Fortune, a self-described "heavy freedom rock" group. "Black And Red" is a new taste from their soon-to-come debut LP, and it finds the duo singing in bleary-eyed unison amid a clouded wash of distorted guitars and punchy drums. This track toes the line between a fun, sunglasses-required punk tune and a major downer -- I can't conclusively figure out whether they'd want me to dance around or stare at my shoes during a show. Probably both.
LISTEN:
Glow God - "Outside My Mind"
Where: Oklahoma City, OK
From: House of Distractions on Play Pinball!
Available: now
I, for one, am pretty stoked that grunge aesthetics have been making a comeback in the underground, because now we can pretend that early 2000s post-grunge never happened -- a period which rained hellfire upon the earth and damaged the mind of poor, impressionable 10-year-old Jay as he would voraciously watch VH1. Rest assured, Glow God is here to revise history for the better. For proof positive, check "Outside My Mind," arguably the most killer cut from the four-piece's recently released LP. Swampy, bass-heavy guitars (evocative of "bunge"-minded contemporaries Roomrunner) and crashing drums bash up against one another over a lazy vocal pleading, "Help me / get outside my mind / Help me / Disappear from time." It's a simple, satisfying rocker -- if you've been growing your hair out for the sole purpose of looking awesome while headbanging, well, today's your lucky day.
Opening for Destruction Unit and getting a nice nod from WFMU, the Oklahoma boys behind this track have been doing well for themselves as of late. Keep your eyes out for 'em.
LISTEN:
Limbs Bin - "39 Songs"
Where: Western Massachusetts
From: Total Anguish on No Lights Tonight
Available: now
First, there was the minute-and-a-half long session recorded in a laundromat. Now, we have another 39 songs in 5.5 minutes. The madness speaks for itself. One-man noisecore wrecking ball Limbs Bin (who lives under the pseudonym Josh Landes) returns with another release that physically hurts to listen to. It's great. Songs start and stop within seconds; squelching synth tones and manic, distorted shouting pierce through programmed blast beats that never drop below "jackhammer." Over and over and over again. Until you feel sick. Although it all might sound silly in text, "39 Songs" is a beautiful exercise in extremes. You'll cherish those brief moments of silence before being thrown right back into the thick of it - 39 times over.
LISTEN:
Goosebumps - "Best Friend"
Where: NYC
From: Scared To See A Doctor on Katorga Works
Available: TBA
In a recent interview for Distort Jersey City on WFMU, NYC quartet Goosebumps discussed the ills of being in a hardcore band: "Being in a band is sick: getting paid 10 bucks... not being able to sit at home and be alone. Being around people you hate, that's like so great." Although it sounds like playing gigs isn't really to their taste, this new track from their forthcoming 7" suggests that they're more than happy to fuck shit up in the studio. Over the 53 seconds of "Best Friend," Goosebumps sear through two verses and an outro played hard and fast, with a wall of slack, drugged-out guitars and all the fury of a pissed off snake. Ray has a vitriolic scratch to his voice that calls to mind Hank Wood's lovable-uncle-chasing-you-around-with-a-kitchen-knife delivery. There's only so much to say about a hardcore track that charges in and out of the door in less than a minute, but I'll leave it at this - like the best NYHC, "Best Friend" will throw you for a loop. Look out for that upcoming 7" on Katorga Works, as well as an LP that they were teasing in the WFMU interview.
----
END
Below is a motley playlist for you to eat, composed of all the songs and clips I've been jamming on this week. As my mom would say, I made it up all nice and fresh for you:
WATCH:
Wolf Eyes play 285 Kent
Chances are that if you're reading this, you probably know what a 285 Kent is, you've probably heard about it closing, and you probably know what that closure means to many DIY musicians and music fans down over in Brooklyn. Sad days. To celebrate the end of it all, there was a massive procession of bands and artists who filled up the space for a two-weekend-long last hurrah. While most of these farewell shows were stacked with rising stars in indie rock and electronic music, the venue's final Saturday show saw noise and avant-garde acts taking the stage for much of the night, names like Alberich, MV Carbon and Wolf Eyes all sending off the venue with a bang and a clatter and a screech. Pitchfork captured some footage of Wolf Eyes powering through an unreleased track, "Enemy Ladder 1 & 2." Check the video below for eight minutes of Nate Young screaming his brains out, free-form stoner riffs, blown-out drum loops, and John Olson holding some sort of magic noise box whilst letting loose an intermittent fistpump. Chaos. I honestly can't wrap my mind around the fact that they've been at this since I was four.
WATCH:
The Soft Moon premieres video for "Hunger"
Following up on the release of a brand new 7", Luis Vasquez of The Soft Moon has posted both tracks from the record onto YouTube. While I dig A-side "Feel" just fine, what with its driving groove that transports one to the halcyon days of EBM and post-punk, I prefer the sinister synth-drone going on in the B-side, "Hunger." I wanted to post the video here because despite its static aesthetic, the clip enhances the claustrophobia of the track to an uncomfortable degree. Warped, copied, and pasted dozens of times across the screen, the title of the song flickers and wanes as a pitch-shifted voice mutters endlessly, "I want to be happy." Thoroughly spooky, and a prime video to project onto a wall during your next sparsely-attended Halloween party. Check it below.
PICK OF THE WEEK:
Timber Timbre - "Hot Dreams"
Where: Toronto & Montreal, Canada
From: Hot Dreams on Arts & Crafts
Available: 4/1/2014
Timber Timbre is a rarity in indie rock in that they've been crafting their sound around a character, effectively turning their most recent efforts into a bizarre yet engrossing narrative. While the group's first two efforts were steeped in blues and folk tradition, the quintet has since branched out with a tryptych of albums - the self-titled, Creep On Creepin' On, and forthcoming Hot Dreams - that feature foreboding, neo-noir arrangements with plinking piano, slinking basslines, and saxophone that can change its temper from velvety to horrifying skronk on a dime. At the center of this revised sound is Taylor Kirk's newfound croon, who changed his affect from a somber woodsman's sigh to a ghoulish baritone between the group's second and third albums. To match that shift, the lyrics darkened as well, transforming Kirk's persona into that of a preying, lusting villain, indie rock's most unsettling anti-hero.
"Hot Dreams" is the first taste from the new album, a neon-lit closing-time ballad that rises and falls in a manner that can only be described as sexy. But there's something off here, as one might come to expect from Timber Timbre. Kirk (and I should really say 'Kirk's character') kicks off the song by flatly singing, "I want to dance with a black woman," an exoticizing problematic that leaves an awful taste in the mouth. Later, the antagonist's underlying violence slips subtly through the gauze, "I want to follow through / follow through / on all my promises and threats to you, babe." With Colin Stetson's sax work to round out the track with a smooth riff that crescendos into a quasi-dissonant blare in its final moments, the portrait becomes complete -- this is not a love song as much as it is a good reason for his muse to telephone the police. Unnerving as it is addictive, this is easily my favorite track of 2014 so far.
LISTEN:
Ruined Fortune - "Black And Red"
Where: Sydney, Australia
From: Forthcoming LP on Hozac
Available: TBA
I found myself first digging through the current Australian underground by way of Bed Wettin' Bad Boys, whose infectious slacker jam "Any Day Now" snuggled into my headphones on the regular this past spring. The bassist of BWBB and RIP Society labelhead Nic Warnock has teamed up with Angie Garrick of Circle Pit to form Ruined Fortune, a self-described "heavy freedom rock" group. "Black And Red" is a new taste from their soon-to-come debut LP, and it finds the duo singing in bleary-eyed unison amid a clouded wash of distorted guitars and punchy drums. This track toes the line between a fun, sunglasses-required punk tune and a major downer -- I can't conclusively figure out whether they'd want me to dance around or stare at my shoes during a show. Probably both.
LISTEN:
Glow God - "Outside My Mind"
Where: Oklahoma City, OK
From: House of Distractions on Play Pinball!
Available: now
I, for one, am pretty stoked that grunge aesthetics have been making a comeback in the underground, because now we can pretend that early 2000s post-grunge never happened -- a period which rained hellfire upon the earth and damaged the mind of poor, impressionable 10-year-old Jay as he would voraciously watch VH1. Rest assured, Glow God is here to revise history for the better. For proof positive, check "Outside My Mind," arguably the most killer cut from the four-piece's recently released LP. Swampy, bass-heavy guitars (evocative of "bunge"-minded contemporaries Roomrunner) and crashing drums bash up against one another over a lazy vocal pleading, "Help me / get outside my mind / Help me / Disappear from time." It's a simple, satisfying rocker -- if you've been growing your hair out for the sole purpose of looking awesome while headbanging, well, today's your lucky day.
Opening for Destruction Unit and getting a nice nod from WFMU, the Oklahoma boys behind this track have been doing well for themselves as of late. Keep your eyes out for 'em.
LISTEN:
Limbs Bin - "39 Songs"
Where: Western Massachusetts
From: Total Anguish on No Lights Tonight
Available: now
First, there was the minute-and-a-half long session recorded in a laundromat. Now, we have another 39 songs in 5.5 minutes. The madness speaks for itself. One-man noisecore wrecking ball Limbs Bin (who lives under the pseudonym Josh Landes) returns with another release that physically hurts to listen to. It's great. Songs start and stop within seconds; squelching synth tones and manic, distorted shouting pierce through programmed blast beats that never drop below "jackhammer." Over and over and over again. Until you feel sick. Although it all might sound silly in text, "39 Songs" is a beautiful exercise in extremes. You'll cherish those brief moments of silence before being thrown right back into the thick of it - 39 times over.
LISTEN:
Goosebumps - "Best Friend"
Where: NYC
From: Scared To See A Doctor on Katorga Works
Available: TBA
In a recent interview for Distort Jersey City on WFMU, NYC quartet Goosebumps discussed the ills of being in a hardcore band: "Being in a band is sick: getting paid 10 bucks... not being able to sit at home and be alone. Being around people you hate, that's like so great." Although it sounds like playing gigs isn't really to their taste, this new track from their forthcoming 7" suggests that they're more than happy to fuck shit up in the studio. Over the 53 seconds of "Best Friend," Goosebumps sear through two verses and an outro played hard and fast, with a wall of slack, drugged-out guitars and all the fury of a pissed off snake. Ray has a vitriolic scratch to his voice that calls to mind Hank Wood's lovable-uncle-chasing-you-around-with-a-kitchen-knife delivery. There's only so much to say about a hardcore track that charges in and out of the door in less than a minute, but I'll leave it at this - like the best NYHC, "Best Friend" will throw you for a loop. Look out for that upcoming 7" on Katorga Works, as well as an LP that they were teasing in the WFMU interview.
----
END
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