Just kidding. We slog through August bemused by the excitement over big ticket tours, though we will, if pressed, admit to a fondness for āWonderwall,ā a song often sung jubiliantly by someone we love on the way to track meets and XC ski practice and theater rehearsal years ago (though not as many years ago as it first emerged).
Anyway, we once again trawl the slush pile for the good stuff, opine briefly on its merits and share it with you. Weāre sure youāll find out what the Gallagher brothers are up to from other sources.
This monthās contributors included Bryon Hayes, Ian Mathers, Jonathan Shaw, Tim Clarke, Jennifer Kelly, Bill Meyer, Mason Jones and Christian Carey.
Ark Zead ā Niptaktuk (Glacial Movements)
The Italian label Glacial Movements specializes in music thatās chilled, immense and slow, just like its namesake. Niptaktuk continues this icy throughline, offering a series of highly resonant, frost-tinged drone passages. The creator, of which no information is known, sourced these textures from gongs and singing bowls, stretching the frequencies into lengthy, subtly shifting tone clouds. They cleverly balance lighter shades against darker hues, layering pre-dawn shimmer over sub-sonic bass pulses. The delicate patter of scraped and stroked metal adds a sense of the real to these otherwise uncanny soundscapes. Ark Zead drew influence from the cold northern Canadian winter when they created these sounds, yet the experience of listening doesnāt evoke frostbite or blinding blizzards. Instead Niptaktuk, which is an Inuit word that implies oncoming clear skies, is a remedy against frostiness, a kernel of warmth that seeks to melt the winter ice.Ā
Bryon Hayes
The Body & Dis Fig ā Orchards of a Futile Heaven (Thrill Jockey)
At this point, at least going by actual releases, surely there are no greater collaborators in heavy music (in all its forms) than The Body. In addition to their stellar work as ājustā a duo, Chip King and Lee Buford have at this point collaborated with a real murderersā row of bands and artists, and those albums absolutely refuse to stick to any particular formula. That theyād work with Dis Fig (aka Felicia Chen), whoās made an excellent, emotionally/sonically challenging record called Purge and sang on a full length by The Bug, makes perfect sense. The result, as with many āThe Body &ā LPs, is so seamlessly satisfying youād think this was everyone involvedās main gig. The thunderous drums, harsh noise, and Kingās peerless shrieks are all present, and Chen gives a hell of a lead vocal performance to centre it all. The closing one-two punch of āCoils of Kaaā/āBack to the Waterā is one of the best endings 2024 is going to get, Chen wailing in rage and despair as the music collapses buildings around her.
Ian Mathers
Demiser ā Slave to the Scythe (Blacklight Media/Metal Blade)
Retrograde throwback thrash isnāt exactly a growth area in metal, or a particularly enlightened undertaking, culturally speaking. But dudes in denim and bullet-lined bandoliers donāt make records like Slave to the Scythe because they foresee mass-market opportunity or stadiums full of fans in the immediate future. Mostly they donāt see much future at all. Demiser seems to share those perspectives ā live fast, die faster, have as much fun as possible in the brief and weird interregnum. Is Slave to the Scythe fun? Depends on your sense of humor, and your tolerance for metalās more reductive shenanigans. The fellows in the band have given themselves stage names like Gravepisser (he plays guitar) and Infestor (he drums), and they have supplied us with the sublime song title āHell Is Full of Fireā; no points for innovation, but maximum points for unconquerably up-for-it idiocy. Motƶrhead seems as significant to Demiser as early Exodus and Kreator (especially the genius of Pleasure to Kill). Sort of nice to hear a thrash record thatās more interested in the riffs than the solos. Sort of fun to play this record really, really loud. Sort of certain that doing so results in becoming materially stupider. Thatās okay ā it makes that aforementioned lack of a viable future a little less awful to contemplate.
Jonathan Shaw
Dummy ā Free Energy (Trouble In Mind)
Dummyās debut, Mandatory Enjoyment, lived up to its title; it was a record difficult not to appreciate. In her Dusted review, Jennifer Kelly praised it as āa listening experience that simultaneously braces and soothes, agitates and lulls.ā Dummyās second album, Free Energy,has a similar appeal, but knocks this listener off balance with its bizarre fixation on dated drum machines and backwards sounds that bring to mind the baggy indie-dance of the 1990s. You know the stuff: Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine, Jesus Jones, Pop Will Eat Itself. There are some great songs here, such as āNine Clean Nails,ā but you have dig around amongst the misfires to find them. Dummy still have an ear for a good tune, so you can forgive their more questionable aesthetic decision-making.
Tim Clarke
āFatherā John Misty ā Greatish Hits: I Followed My Dreams and My Dreams Said to Crawl (Sub Pop)
With streaming supplying abundant amounts of playlists, one might reasonably ask why a greatest hits compilation would be useful. Curation instead of algorithms. āFatherā John Mistyās Greatish Hits presents the high points in his catalog, beginning with early songsāReal Love Babyā (2016) and āNancy from Now Onā (2012). It is by no means a chronological survey, nor is it front-loaded like so many collections and playlists. The popular āI Love You Honeybearā (2015) is saved for the penultimate track. The finale, āI Guess Time Just Makes Fools of Us All,āĀ is new. At eight and a half minutes long, it stretches out with saxophone, bongo, and electric piano solos interspersing bluesy pop vocals. Worth the wait - donāt skip ahead!
Christian Carey
Ben Felton ā A Lot (Island House)
Ben Felton lets the drones linger, layering sounds on top of sounds, like primary-toned transparencies on an overhead projector. You can spend this album watching the colors these tones make when the light shines through them, hitting one, two, three or more guitar/synth textures before getting to the other side. Complex yes, but peaceful, drowsy almost. One track called āA Foghorn or a Loudspeaker,ā sounds like just that, an uneasy truce between natural serenity and amplified buzz and hiss. The space it lives in is large and echoey, a cathedral or, more likely, a vast underground cavern with water lapping at the walls. Occasionally, the electronic mode predominates as in the airy percolation of āWhat You Need.ā Yet though the blippy motif is bright and uncorroded, it sits atop a woozy soup of tone; guitar notes crash in sporadically intimating a rustier, more industrial territory nearby. Felton comes from New York but now resides in more bucolic Carrboro, North Carolina. His soundscapes find a meeting place between folk-adjacent ambience and rougher, noisier music. The album gets more propulsive as it goes. Shaken-not-stirred āThe Fifth Day,ā turns a three-note upward lilting motif into something approaching rock anthemry. You canāt blame the sustained notes for hanging around. Itās nice here, and you want to stay.
Jennifer Kelly
Margarida Garcia And Manuel MotaāDomestic Scene (Feeding Tube)Ā
Upright electric bassist Margarida Garcia and electric guitarist Manuel Mota are part of Lisbon, Portugalās experimental/improvisational music scene and have worked together with and without the participation of others on seven records besides Domestic Scene over the past decade. It is their first LP to be released in the USA, and thereās something poetic about that fact, because it feels like an echo of the work of one American musician ā Loren Connors, and more specifically, 21st century Connors in solo mode. It shares his sparseness, boiled-down lyricism and willingness to disappear into a haze of noise. Since Garcia has associated with him at times, thereās definitely a shared aesthetic. However, these are not young copycats. Motaās spare progressions proceed according to a different logic, purged of blues and baroque elements, guided by a north star of sequential consonance that adds up to quiet dissonance. And Garciaās subdued, bow-born cries have an ability to compound, making the music thick with atmosphere, but still stingy with note counts. Play it late.Ā
Bill Meyer
Geneva Jacuzzi ā Triple Fire (Dais)
Geneva has been making bedroom synth pop for years. On Triple Fire (named after her astrological sign), the production values tick upward, and several of the songs are club ready. āLaps of Luxuryā is a case in point, with Genevaās dulcet singing abetted by backing vocals, early digital synth sonics, and mechanized beats. āScena Ballerinaā recalls her early bedroom pop, with a taut riff and harmonic swerves. Trebly synths and out of the box percussion underscore an emotive vocal on āTake it or Leave it.ā Genevaās speechsong in āArt is Dangerousā and āSpeed of Lightā recalls Laurie Andersonās 1980s work, while āHeart of Poisonā has an art rock ambience that incorporates tenor saxophone and is rife with shimmering synths. āRock and a Hard Placeā is an aggressive example of dark wave electronica. The closer, āYo-yo Boyā is an anthemic piece of minimal synth-pop that reminds listeners of Genevaās roots while presenting memorable tunefulness.Ā
Christian Carey
Katatonic Silentio ā Axis Of Light (Midnight Shift)
Axis Of Light by Katatonic Silentio
Italy-based Mariachiara Troianiello is a long-time DJ, and independent audio and ethnomusicology researcher at the University of San Marino. She also creates electronic music under the name Katatonic Silentio, and on Axis of Light explores a spatial dub, filled with palpating beats and flickering synthesizer sounds. The five tracks on this EP are all based on rhythmic frameworks that skitter and thud with a dark, night-time vibe for the most part. As the title indicates, opener āDrip in the Caveā is indeed subterranean in nature, with rubbery pads and liquid drums reverberating in tactile space. āBridging the Gapā is lighter and bouncier, bubbling at a fast tempo and filled with electronic hoots and blips. The other pieces mix slow with fast, and machine-like rhythms with heartbeat-like pulses, all swirling in a warehouse ambience populated by ghostly static, quiet bells, or spooky, whistling tones. Itās all a neat combination of machine world and organic atmosphere, like a science-fiction world populated by real, messy people.
Mason Jones
Nicole Marxen ā Thorns (Self-Release)
Nicole Marxen puts an eerie shimmer over rough crescendos of metallic noise, keening in the ghostliest, most disembodied way amidst vibrating slabs of guitar sound. āThorns,ā the albumās spiritual center, floats a chilly line of vocal melodyāthink Beth Gibbons or Chelsea Wolfeāover a machine-like industrial beat. Fragility blooms in an apocalyptic afterworld. āThe Executionerā is heavier, more ominous, slithering to life out of the flickering buzz of downed powerlines. A stolid march emerges soon, swaggering with drums, swelling with amp-frying volume. Marxen presides like a high priestess, unperturbed amid flares, fills and violence. Like Jarboe astride a Justin Broadrick wall of noise, she stakes her claim, with operatic trills and whispered confidences. Dramatic, large-scale stuff.
Keyboardist Magda Mayasā music has often evidenced expansive thinking, but it took the resources of a festival to first bring her large group Filamental together. Once convened, she took full advantage of her octetās assembled potentialities for imagination and sound. Having had one such experience, Mayas wasnāt going to wait for a festival to marshal such a breadth of mindpower and material again, nor was she going to let the impediments to travel and gathering imposed by a world pandemic get in the way. So, she sent out an invitation to an invitation to Filamentalās members and turned their gathered input into two pieces that run a bout 20 minutes in length. Each sets small, contrasting gestures dancing atop a consonant surface of elongated, layered sonorities. Ritual Mechanics is not so much a drone piece as an expression of continuous, focused action, richly detailed and consistently focused.
Bill Meyer
Rob Mazurek ā Milan (Clean Feed)
Rob Mazurek has been recording for nearly three decades and performing much longer. His methods encompass composition and improvisation using brass, electronics, voice, and other instruments. In any body of work so broad, there are themes, some more dominant than others. Milan is a successor to Rome, which together comprise a smaller trend that involves recording solo performances in Italian radio studios with nice pianos. Recorded nine years apart, they offer a measure of how Mazurekās work has changed in that time. Instead of cornet, he plays concert and piccolo trumpets; sternly ceremonial vocalizing and fistfuls of percussion dropped purposefully into the piano assert a more explicitly ritual intent. And, perhaps reflecting the amount of work that Mazurek has done with Damon Locks of late, the electronics now include playback options, so that vocal and instrumental samples (Is that Sun Ra I hear in there? And maybe some Ocora ethnic recordings?) as well as beat patterns muscle their way through the sizzle and smash of the prepared piano. Explicitly conceived as a journey, itās quite a trip. Mazurekās ensemble work can be pretty widescreen, but Milan reminds us that he can be epic on his own.
Bill Meyer
Nadja ā Jumper (momentarily records)
Out of the many, many records put out by ambient and/or doom metal duo Nadja, itās truly rare to find one that doesnāt feature Aidan Bakerās guitar in one form or another. But on Jumper, originally released as a bit of an art object on cassette (the online cover art is a look at the contraption that the tape comes in), he restricts himself not just to their drum machine but to layering and processing one particular pattern from it. Leah Buckereff provides bass, a more typical entry in the credits of their release, but here the way the slowly accreting digital noise plays over and around its pulses and feedback gives the whole album a very distinct feeling. Despite the use of drum machine thereās almost no rhythm to the whole hour here (until a surprise right at the end that catches me off guard every time), instead the effect is one of meditative harshness. The result is absolutely industrial, like a factory thatās weirdly compelling to listen to.
Ian Mathers
Orcas ā How to Color a Thousand Mistakes (Morr Music)
Orcas ā Rafael Anton Irisarri and BenoĆ®t Pioulard ā havenāt recorded together in a decade, but they have been abundantly busy with their own projects. How to Color a Thousand Mistakes is consistent with past Orcas recordings and also reflects the music they have made in the interim. āWrong Way to Fallā stands out in both regards, with Pioulardās husky vocals over shimmering electric guitar solos, synth riffs and minimally complicated, but driving, drums. āRiptideā is populated by a number of different synth parts against a terse countermelody in the guitar. āSwellsā has a strong vocal performance, while vibrato and pitch bends in the synths and economical guitar parts make for a memorable arrangement. āFareā covers all the bases, with Pioulardās voice double-tracked in a soaring chorus alongside mellifluous electronics, emphatic guitars, and plenty of drum fills. The recordingās closer, āUmbra,ā has an extended introduction with a bass melody and warm synths. Then tangy dissonance and glissandos abound in both voice and instruments. It epitomizes the atmospheric textures that Orcas seem able to summon at will.
Christian Carey
Oxygen Destroyer ā Guardian of the Universe (Redefining Darkness)
Guardian of the Universe by Oxygen Destroyer
Guardian of the Universe is another slab of monster-movie-themed, death-metal-inflected thrash from Oxygen Destroyer. The Seattle-based bandās previous LP, Sinister Monstrosities Spawned by the Unfathomable Ignorance of Mankind (2021), expanded their long-standing kaiju theme to include colossal beasts from outside the canon of the Tojo Studios Godzilla movies. The new record shifts tactics, focusing exclusively on Gamera and the giant turtleās films for one of Tojoās competitors, Daiei Films. Itās hard to know how much the record will appeal to listeners for whom those inside-baseball kaiju references mean little to nothing. But if youāre down for songs that attempt to replicate the absurd pleasures of Gamera in flight ā head and limbs retracted into its massive shell, which then spins and shoots sheets of sparks from the holes, natch ā this may be the record for you. Guardian of the Universe is non-stop fireworks: crazy, thrashy riffs; maniacal flat-out sprints; dive-bombing guitar solos. Should we take any of it seriously? This reviewer wonāt hold forth (again) on the cultural stakes of post-war kaiju films. If you know, you know. And mostly what matters here is the bandās complete conviction and the joys of the musicās excesses. In these dog days of summer, itās exactly what some of us need.
Jonathan Shaw
Peel Dream Magazine ā Rose Main Reading Room (Topshelf)
Rose Main Reading Room by Peel Dream Magazine
Itās been four years since Iāve checked in on Peel Dream Magazine, whose second album Agitpop Alterna I described in my Dust review as ājust like early Stereolab, with occasional blasts of shoe-gazey guitar thrown in for good measure.ā I missed PDMās third album Pad, so this brings us to album number four, Rose Main Reading Room. Thereās still plenty of Stereolab in the mix, especially in the Mary Hansen-style backing vocals, the Farfisa, and the squelchy synth sounds (see āOblastā). But here thereās more of a lean towards the baroque pop of Sufjan Stevens circa Illinois, mainly thanks to the chunky glimmer of vibraphone and the spiraling flute lines, which really brighten up proceedings. This balance between droning indie-rock and tuneful pop is very pretty, with sufficient musical complexity to invite rewarding repeat listens.
Tim Clarke
Plastic Bubble ā Circular Breathing EP (Garden Gate/Moon Control)
The Circular Breathing EP by Plastic Bubble
Hereās a slab of happy, giddy, psychedelic garage rock which, except for the 2024 release date, wouldnāt be out of place in the Elephant Six universe. Lexington, KYās Matt Taylor and Elisa McCabe are the chief blowers of bubbles, spinning out rough but iridescent songs like āRecontextualize,ā where a guitar vamp grinds but vocals drift in pop ideality, āah, ah, ah,ā indeed. A classic indie boy-girl vibe permeates these five songs, with McCabe especially fetching in āBright Morning.ā āForeverā pulls back on the guitar roar to uncover a jaunty, girl-group bounce, with sweet counterparts and harmonies weaving in and around McCabeās part. The set closes with a banger, part Who, part Fountains of Wayne, and all the way infectious, āAnything and Everything.ā
Jennifer Kelly
SUUNS ā The Breaks (Joyful Noise)
The Breaks by SUUNS
Elusiveness characterized SUUNSā last album, 2021ās The Witness. As I noted in my Dusted review, āThereās no denying that its elusive character is part of its charm, but there are stretches where it feels more evasive than elusive, stubbornly refusing to engage more directly.ā On their new album, The Breaks, the Montreal band are more direct in terms of the sounds theyāre employing, but more evasive when it comes to songwriting. The majority of contemporary pop music is based around heavily effected vocal melodies and beats, which The Breaks seems to take as a cue towards similar immediacy. However, aside from the title track, the nagging piano of āRoad Signs and Meanings,ā and the loping stomp of opener āVanishing Point,ā this record is a tough nut to crack.
Tim Clarke
Tatsongs ā Bushcraft (Self-Release)
Bushcraft by tat songs
Tatsongs are neither tat, nor really songs. The former implies fussy decoration, and these long, glacially evolving pieces seem as raw and elemental as rock formations. You can almost hear an icy wind blowing through their sheered off contours. The latter argues for a Pavlovās buzzer of pleasing tone arrangements, and Tatsongsā Tom Sadler is really not concerned whether you can guess then next 10 seconds of his compositions from the preceding 20. But even so, thereās something to be said for looming, sheeny layers of guitar and synth sounds that carve space and time into epic, barren landscapes. Tones vibrate in and out of true, zooming close and fading back, twitching in rhythm and coalescing in static fuzzed drones. Not a song in the bunch, nor much embroidery, but powerful stuff nonetheless.
Jennifer Kelly
TELESTIALVISIONS ā Taurus in a Field (Island House)
Taurus in a Field by TELESTIALVISION
As Dittocrush, Pittsburgh resident Trevor D. Crush assembles tape loops into ambient symphonies. He often adds layers of live instrumentation from other musicians, such as Island House associate Chaz Prymek (Lake Mary, Fuubutsushi) and guitarist Ryan Fedor. TELESTIALVISIONS is his latest project, a tag team with New York guitarist Brinton Jones. The pair offer up a frothy brew that tastes rich and complex. Their debut Taurus in a Field is a pair of woozy collages that, while undeniably loose, are sharp in focus when compared to Dittocrushās ghostly soundscapes. Crushās tapes construct tangible shapes that intersect in a variety of patterns, while Jones unveils angelic melodies with his guitar. These two are telling a story thatās more Borges than Burroughs, a fantastical tale that defies conventional logic but manages to meander toward a graspable conclusion.
Bryon Hayes
Tycho ā Infinite Health (Ninja Tune)
Infinite Health by Tycho
Tycho is Scott Hansen, and Scott Hansen is a designer. You can hear Hansenās day job in Tychoās music: the clean lines, the smart use of space, the sheer digestibility of it all. But should music go down quite this easy? Listening to Infinite Health feels a little bit like youāre at a trendy gym, playing a bit-part in an advert, or hitting up a bar packed with influencers. The common denominator is wanting to feel seen; everything plays a part in attracting attention. The synths sound like Boards of Canada, some of the funkier electro-pop moments sound like Daft Punk, and thereās an expensive sheen over everything. Itās hard to deny itās appealing, but it also feels like experiencing capitalist obsolescence in real time.
Tim Clarke
White CollarāS/T (Static Shock)
White Collar by White Collar
Listeners with a long memory for North American hardcore might flash on those mid-1980s records by White Flag when listening to this new release from White Collar. Like that earlier Inland Empire band, White Collar frequently turns its critical gaze and its caustic smart-assery on the contemporary cultural climate of punk and politics as lifestyle (and your reviewer uses that odious term advisedly here). Songs like āCompassion Fatigueā and āPetition Signerā snarl at and spit on liberalismās excesses of self-righteous smugness, to often hilarious effect. Thereās a puritanical element to Gen Zās dispositions and discourse that White Collar finds deeply irritating ā not that the band is against strong ethico-political speech; check out āMeat Marketā and āEqual Wrongs.ā This is not the space for sustained analysis of Gen Z punk, and the extent to which we may want some sort of political purity from punk in the first place. But certainly, itās an intrinsic good for punk to have snotty, disputatious and nasty voices in the mix. White Collarās songs are short and sharp, and vocalist Loosey Cās performance is memorably unpleasant. Snarl on, punks.
Demiser to Release āSlave to the Scytheā August 23rd on Blacklight Media / Metal Blade Records! Get the details now @ https://toxicmetalzine.com/post/demiser-t
ALBUM REVIEW: Demiser - Through The Gate Eternal - Boris Records
ALBUM REVIEW: Demiser ā Through The Gate Eternal ā BorisĀ Records
I love the amount of metal to choose from nowadays. I donāt really know if I have a favorite. That would be much too hard of a task for my brain to try to manage.Ā I got to check out some killer thrash from down south. I do love me some thrash so, needless to say, I was more than eager to dig into it. So, without any more BS, blazing a trail outta South Carolina comes Demiser with their latestā¦
Itās December, and that means itās list time! 2021 has been a sterling year for new metal albums. The bands we love powered through the pandemic and managed to release powerful and amazing new music to keep us going. So below is my list of of Top 30 Albums for 2021. No EPs, singles, splits, etc.; just albums - the way music was meant to be heard.
ā ļø
1. Tribulation - Where The Gloom Becomes Sound
2. Stormkeep - Tales of Othertime
3. Bewitcher - Cursed Be Thy Kingdom
4. Khemmis - Deceiver
5. Seth - La Morsure du Christ
6. Friisk - ⦠in torügg bleev blot Sand
7. Frozen Soul - Crypt of Ice
8. Spectral Wound - A Diabolic Thirst
9. Hooded Menace - The Tritonus Bell
10. Necrofier - Prophesies of Eternal Darkness
11. MÄnbryne ā Heilsweg: O UdrÄce CiaÅa I TuÅaczce Dusz
12. Ninkharsag - The Dread March of Solemn Gods
13. Archspire - Bleed The Future
14. Darkthrone - Eternal Hailsā¦ā¦
15. KƓr - The Horns of Ylmir
16. Inferi - Vile Genesis
17. Demiser - Through The Gate Eternal
18. Vitriolic - Renegade Ascension
19. Devoid of Thought - Outer World Graves
20. Steel Bearing Hand - Slay In Hell
21. Wormwitch - Wolf Hex
22. Wraith - Undo The Chains
23. Aenigmatum - Deconsecrate
24. Khandra - All Occupied By Slow Death
25. Thulcandra - A Dying Wish
26. Wode - Burn In Many Mirrors
27. 1914 - Where Fear And Weapons Meet
28. Groza - The Redemptive End
29. Haunt - Beautiful Distraction
30. Unto Others - Strength
ā ļø
What are your top albums for 2021?