It's going to take years to unpack the last few months of 2023. Whatever mental trauma is inflicted upon those removed from the situation in no way approximates the devastation and inhumanity occurring daily to millions. That the US is funding it all, and institutions and businesses domestically are punishing those who speak out about it, is sickening and terrifying. The latest Lulu's email newsletter wrote more eloquently about it all than I could, and plainly calls for empathy at the end: "Be good in a bad world."
And we do that, pretending things are normal for the sake of others, our kids, our partners. But things are not normal, and that pressure forces other changes, because while we can to some degree control what happens within our lives, there's no fix for seeing (let alone experiencing) dead, maimed children regularly on Instagram, victims of bombings without caution or consequence. A sense of powerlessness pervades. What we can do is keep talking, sharing and banding together. Being good in a bad world.
Some notes:
Lots more instrumental, or nearly instrumental, music than usual this year on my list, which tracks with the current climate. Music without words, or without discernible words, leaves space for thoughts to become untangled, sure; but a lot of what’s highlighted below felt more transcendent than meditative.
I still listen to rap quite a bit, but very few new songs I heard stuck around past a few days. Call it malaise from living in an era where every other song on the radio has a trap beat. Starlito dropped a clunker, which shouldn't have shocked me but did, and it personally felt significant. Maybe it’s indicative of the old guard’s demise, but hopefully it removes a wall and allows me to engage with newer rap music better. That being said: Veeze's Ganger was head and shoulders above everything else; billy woods' short verse on "As the Crow Flies" made me gasp the first time I heard it (and I also loved ELUCID's verse on "Baby Steps"); and I listened to The Jacka's The Jack Artist most of all.
Of all the books I read this year, two books by Fernanda Melchor, Hurricane Season and Paradais, stood out. Melchor’s prose is incredibly powerful, bleakly funny and vicious in equal measure. The sharp, frank assessments by characters in often ludicrous situations feel like a product of the contemporary but imbued with some ancient wisdom. Shout out to Julia S. for the new and notable South American literature tips.
In the midst of holiday/short day doldrums, amidst endless bleak news reports, it was difficult battling back cynicism to listen to anything, especially back to all of these records and tapes listed below. It ended up being oddly therapeutic, highly enjoyable and maybe necessary, the same as when I force myself out to shows when it's easier to stay home. That feeling chips away at the notion of this list-making exercise as futile, for me certainly, but hopefully also for you. Thank you for reading, and I hope you find something you like, too.
And so:
LP
Lewsberg, Out and About (12XU)
Equipment Pointed Ankh, From Inside the House (Bruit Direct Disques)
The Native Cats, The Way On Is the Way Off (Chapter Music)
Water Damage, 2 Songs (12XU)
VoidCeremony, Threads of Unknowing (20 Buck Spin)
Emily Robb, If I Am Misery Then Give Me Affection (Petty Bunco)
CIA Debutante, Down, Willow (Siltbreeze)
Olimpia Splendid, 2 (Fonal/Kraak)
Nusidm, The Last Temptation of Thrill (Bruit Direct Disques)
Incipientium, Undergång (Happiest Place)
Witness K, s/t (ever/never)
Leda, Neuter (Discreet Music)
12"/10"/7"/CS
Chrome Cell Torture, Laugh Then Lie 7" (Scarlet)
Joe Colley, Acting As If 10" (Substantia Innominata)
More for my sake than yours, my memory's like a sieve these days - but here's a quick list of the stuff that's resonated most so far this year. Yes, I am going soft on you.
Sixteen alphabetical bullet points:
Cheater Slicks, Ill-Fated Cusses LP (In the Red)
CIA Debutante, Down, Willow LP (Siltbreeze)
Joe Colley, Acting As If 10" (Substantia Innominata)
Delco MF's, March of the MF's 7" (MF Records)
Disintegration, Time Moves For Me 12" (Feel It)
Leda, Neuter LP (Discreet)
Nusidm, The Last Temptation of Thrill (Bruit Direct Disques)
Olimpia Splendid, 2 LP (Fonal/Kraak)
Primitive Man & Full of Hell, Suffocating Hallucination LP (Closed Casket Activities)
Tàrrega 91', Fill De La Merda 7" (La Vida Es Un Mus)
Terrine, Standing Abs LP (Bruit Direct Disques)
Valee & Harry Fraud, Virtuoso (SRFSCHL/Fake Shore Drive) - minus the Twista verse on "WTF"; gonna live in "Dutty Laundry," "Sea Bass" and "Yea But Um" for the rest of the summer
Veeze, Ganger (Navy Wavy)
Witness K, s/t LP (ever/never)
Young Nudy, Gumbo (RCA)
Young Thug feat. 21 Savage, "Want Me Dead," and Young Thug's "Mad Dog" and "Gucci Grocery Bag" - been enjoying Metro Boomin's version of Business Is Business a little too much, given that it's weighed down by terrible features, but these songs stick
Four more hits from the musically rich vein of 2023. Take a breath and bask in these before the next wave hits. These'll keep your head above water in the midst of everything else; if nothing else, they'll airlift you outta here for a bit. You deserve the break, and these deserve your attention.
Brain Tourniquet, ...An Expression in Pain LP (Iron Lung)
Brain Tourniquet return after two 7" records to deliver an interesting take on the tricky proposition of a powerviolence LP: nine fast tracks and one side-long burner. If I didn't see the band play most of these songs last summer, including the 10-minute title track, I don't think I'd be too keen on the idea, but the trio delivers yet another winner with ...An Expression in Pain. Brain Tourniquet's take on west coast powerviolence has always been distinguished by clarity, a relatively clean sound with as much space as can be afforded on sub-minute tracks. This always makes the slow breakdowns hit much harder in my opinion, the listener swallowed by quicksand or a sinkhole just as they get their footing. It's still true here: "The Depths of Human Suffering (Are Boundless)" and "Exit Life" provide two of the record's heaviest moments. If I have one complaint about the record, it's that these slow parts seem a bit thin compared to those on earlier records, but overall the presentation here is (surprisingly) refreshingly clear. There's a more pronounced classical heavy metal influence here that the crisp production highlights, like the showy guitar line on "Empire of Misery," but it's an incremental addition, not one that smothers the ferocity with technical prowess. Same goes for the sidelong title track: it's everything Brain Tourniquet does well, splayed open and presented for close inspection or ready for your next at-home circle pit. Big chunky riffs give way to grindcore and then quickly pivot to thrashing punk and even make room for some psychedelic soloing at the midway point. It's a bad, bad trip, and one that someone owes the drummer some money for - he deftly navigates the band off and back on the rails repeatedly from start to finish. The whole thing's over and out in 20 minutes, and paced well so that you're not gasping for breath at the end, giving ...An Expression In Pain replay value that something similar like World Extermination, as amazing as that record is, does not have for me. Recommended even for those with just a passing interest in powerviolence or grindcore; go see 'em if they ever tour near you and it'll all make sense.
Mystic 100's, On a Micro Diet 2xLP (Listening House)
I've read a couple items on this Mystic 100's (née Milk Music) album, and most of them have an apologetic air, making excuses as to why they still mostly like what they hear while acknowledging that nothing on here sounds like "Fertile Ground." The band isn't, and hasn't been, anywhere near where they started as Milk Music over a decade ago, now reaching their final form as Mystic 100's and fully embracing the classic rock sound they've teased on the last two LPs. Wide-open and slow is the approach here, every guitar chord ringing out like the sun coming out from behind the clouds, solos searing like the light reflecting off of rippling water. "Message From Lonnie" is maybe my favorite example, the languid pace of the track a rare and refreshing take on the stretched-out portions of On the Beach, the band sounding as vulnerable as I can ever recall. The other obvious choice cut would be the 19-minute "Have You Ever Chased a Lightbeam?," that one also slowly navigating the landscape but with a heavy whiff of Pink Floyd in its wake. It features one of the best bass line/free guitar match-ups in recent memory, a mind-expanding track that you kinda always knew these guys had in 'em. Most of the 75-minute On a Micro Diet follows the lead of the two aforementioned tracks, though it'd probably be a bit of a slog if the whole album followed that same recipe for success. "Windowpane" is the only concession the band makes to Milk Music fans, sounding like that something that could've ended up on the previous two records, and of course we're gonna have to talk about "Drug Man." This song, which leads off the second side, is going to make a lot of people unhappy; populated by lyrics that sound like some sort of inside joke, vocal delivery that almost definitely is some sort of joke, and cheesy white man blues licks, "Drug Man" is definitely the outlier here. But, the way that the song deteriorates and opens up on the back half is of a piece with the rest of the album, shimmering guitars acting as some sort of lifeline or light at the end of the tunnel. A lot of the open spaces created by the band here sound like something you'd hear on a free improvisation record, the band letting the individual sounds slowly create tension in a vacuum, before exploding back onto the scene with a perfectly timed chord or solo. Might be showing my age a bit, or maybe it's just that stifling hot southeastern summers are perfectly suited for such slow music, but stuff like On a Micro Diet hits perfectly for me now. If you liked recent records such as Heron Oblivion's self-titled album (of course you did) or Shawn David McMillen's On the Clock w/ JJ & Mitch, this new Mystic 100's will scratch that itch and then some. Amazing return from this group, not even dulled by the accompanying $120 Online Ceramics sweatshirts.
Olimpia Splendid, 2 LP (Fonal/Kraak)
This second album from Olimpia Splendid was among my most anticipated for the year, and I'm glad to report that there's been no dip in quality in the eight years since the self-titled LP came out. Even with the long gap between albums, I'm still struggling to come up with the proper adjectives to describe the band's sound. They take three guitars and a drum machine and make bad-trip psychedelic rock, replete with lots of repetition and harshly whispered gremlin vocals, and wrap it into a package that's both deeply hypnotic and unnerving. What's new this time around is the band's ability to gain traction and give some forward momentum to the tracks, whereas previous songs were more likely to get drunk on repetition and peter out. I don't think there's anything wrong with either approach, but I'm really enjoying the tense churn and groove of tracks like "Jacksonin Paita" and "Nicotinella," both given just the slightest hint of structure and then mowed down by these powerful and patient distorted guitar lines. My favorite track here is "Agda," where the electronic backing track makes it sound like Merzbow is playing next door while the guitar lines slowly ramp up the tension during the song's eight minutes. It's a track I could imagine the band teasing out for 20 minutes in the live setting, and that'd be just fine by me. No one's making music like Olimpia Splendid, and while that's something that's always been true, the bar to emulate their sound just got raised several notches with 2. Easily one of the best records of the year, if not the best. Finland, here I come.
Primitive Man & Full of Hell, Suffocating Hallucination LP (Closed Casket Activities)
File this one under "collaborations I didn't know I wanted": the smothering black sludge of Primitive Man melding minds with Full of Hell's noise-laced grindcore. To be fair, and this has been pointed out elsewhere, this pretty much feels like a Primitive Man record; such is their sound that it's hard to squeeze anything else onto a track. See opener "Trepanation of Future Joys," a song that could've fit in perfectly on either of the last two Primitive Man releases but featuring Dylan Walker's shredded vocals. But a few listens in, and that feeling starts to fall apart somewhere in the middle of "Rubble Home," where the drums emulate free jazz ferocity, and by the end of the grinding "Bludgeon" the armor's been pierced. I can't find the interview now, but Ethan McCarthy called this Primitive Man's "prettiest" record - and relative to their discography, he's right. The twinkling guitar line on closer "Tunnels to God" is the only obvious proof, but there are some softer edges to the instrumental "Dwindling Will" that would normally be rubbed out in favor of less forgiving textures. It's an unexpected result for a collaboration between these two bands, but it's hardly the defining result. This is an extremely nasty record, where Full of Hell flexes all the attention to detail that can get lost in the maelstrom on their own records. The push-pull between the two bands leads to some spine-chilling dynamics on "Trepanation of Future Joys," the sound dropping out to come roaring back with waves of crushing guitar and earsplitting noise. If you've been following either band, Suffocating Hallucination is a great example and extension of what both Full of Hell and Primitive Man have been doing for the last few years: slowly refining their respective sounds into well-sharpened blades cloaked in noise. It's way better than the sum of its parts, and while familiar on the surface, there's enough going on underneath, like the homage to the Body's "Ruiner" on "Rubble Home," to keep me coming back. There are four different LP cover variations to go along with approximately 800 vinyl variants, so you won't have a problem tracking down a copy - but please do.
