#waltzingisfrownedupon

[waltzingisfrowneduponzine]

Best of 2017: #2: “Impermanence” - New Lands

Had to include a bandcamp link because none of their shit is on YouTube I guess? Ah well. RIP New Lands

Impermanence is a bittersweet album - it’s an album made up of all the things that failed to be, a collection of songs without words where there should be some, songs that only came about because two people wanted to give it all another go, songs that existed elsewhere, and a Christmas cover because fuck it, why not.

Why Are You All Wearing Coolio Hats?, the track linked to above, is of course the standout, a track I waited years to hear after a 10 second-long clip emerged on Facebook, and then the band vanished, again, as they kept doing, and I would return to that clip and listen and imagine what the rest of the song could be (for reference, it was towards the end of the opening, where it cleans up and goes a bit brighter).

I remember it so clearly - a shot of the inside of an amp, distortion all around, then the phone gets yanked out of there in time for the cleaner parts to kick in, and they’re all there, listening, nodding, one guy at the computer mixing it, it sounds now just like it did then, although without whole “being played through an amp” thing, but then this is New Lands, and literally every song sounds like it’s being played through a fucking amp.

If it sounds like three people fucking about it’s because it is three people fucking about, and that’s all it amounted to, three people fucking around and recording it because why not, and then it ends, and so does New Lands, forever and ever, amen.

[waltzingisfrowneduponzine]

Best of 2017: #3: “onigiri” - haikus

I just saw this referred to as “midwest emo” in genre but it’s... from Argentina? Where the fuck do people thing the midwest is exactly?

I have, all too late, as the case often is, realised now that onigiri is the demo version of what became haikus’ self-titled EP, where the production values are stepped up by a lot, and there’s more harmonies and stuff, but, like, I haven’t properly listened to that yet, so it’s gonna have to be onigiri, sorry.

onigiri isn’t usually my kind of thing - it’s a little too dreamy, a little too pretentious nonsense, and yet also there’s a lot of heart in there, you can feel it pumping out of the amps and into the microphones and stuff, it’s in the distortion that you can hear being switched on when it needs to be rather than overlayed or altered in the studio like it should be, it’s in the distant screams of the vocalists shouting words I don’t understand, it’s in the way I haven’t heard the bass until tonight, with my headphones actually on for once.

If you listen to one song from the album, it has to be cornucopias, the lovely second track that drifts between segments effortlessly, doesn’t outstay its welcome, and features all the bits I mentioned above. It pulls you in with its tapping opener, before attacking you with distortion and distant screaming, and then calms down again and basically starts the whole thing over - it never loses its own pace, even as it experiments around its central sound, and it never wants you to be anywhere but right there with it, slamming into walls as it careers round corners you didn’t see coming, just the fucking raw energy of some dudes in a room putting everything they want to say in one moment and then shut the fuck up.

The rest of the EP is pretty good too. And I just listened to the s/t EP and cornucopias loses something in the transition to a cleaner sound (lol seriously when did I become this much of a prick) so check onigiri, there’s that video above but it’s on Spotify and of course you should absolutely buy it directly from the band.

[waltzingisfrowneduponzine]

Best of 2017: #4: “Mouth Moods” - Neil Cicierega

An invisible bed

A

freaky ghost bed

I mean, that’s really why this album is here. An invisible bed. A freaky ghost bed.

Did there need to be a bigger reason? Can I include an album based on a song released in 2015? Did you read the last post? There’s a freaky ghost bed. Ghost bed.

There are other songs on Mouth Moods, I believe. There was definitely an Eye of the Tiger one which is basically the same joke, but it’s Eye of the Tiger. Actually I really like that one, that can stay.

Look, if Bustin’ came on in a club, and you didn’t know it was a joke by the guy who made Brody Quest and shit like that, would you dance? Yes, you probably would. And then if the DJ cut straight into Gorillaz’ always excellent Feel Good Inc? Would you cry with joy and continue to boogie? Would you shout to your friend, holy shit, I love this song, what a fucking transition, someone give this DJ a raise? Sure, that would be you. Probably. I don’t fucking know, I haven’t been to a club in ages. I’ve seen the clubs round Oxford and they look proper wank.

Anyway.

Bustin makes me feel good and I just put Floor Corn on for good measure and hey, it’s a good song too! I love mash-ups of Bodies by Drowning Pool. Can’t go far wrong.

An invisible bed! A, freaky ghost bed!

Alright Wow Wow is pretty good too.

[waltzingisfrowneduponzine]

Best of 2017: #5: “Holocene” - Bon Iver

Now I will concede, from the off, that Holocene by Bon Iver was not released in 2017, but I don’t really care.

I had been listening to For Emma, Forever Ago at the start of the year, as you do, and then thought, hm, I should branch out to other Bon Iver, despite the fact I hate that fucking vocaloid bullshit they do sometimes, and I listened to Holocene, and then I haven’t stopped listening to Holocene.

Holocene, technically, is not a good song. It is awfully repetitive - it’s that one guitar part looping forever, and it’s on some weirdly strung guitar (Nashville tuning says UltimateGuitar.com, which... nah), and it’s a pretty standardly put together track, and it builds, and swells, and dies, and whatever, and the guy probably says fuck at some point, so yeah it’s radio friendly nonsense, go team.

But I dunno. It got its hooks in. I listen to it on repeat most days, usually at a high volume through tinny laptop speakers, going about my business, singing fake versions of the words cos I can’t tell what the bastard’s saying (SHAAAKE AND BAAKE AND STICK WITH EAAARTH), and then I let Towers play for half the song before hammering the “back” button twice and starting Holocene over, and over, and over, and over, and only turning it off once it’s fully borne its way into my skull.

I tried to learn it on guitar once. I gave up pretty quickly. Waste of time.

Holocene didn’t come out in 2017 and isn’t technically even a song I particularly like, but it’s hit me at a time when I needed it to hit me, and it will mark the latter half of 2017 (along with the first bit of Towers before the key change) as a very important song for me. Or maybe just one I stuck with. Whatever. At some point, having something to cling onto is what you really need.

[waltzingisfrowneduponzine]

Listening To: “Everyone Everywhere (2012)” - Everyone Everywhere

Maintaining a consistent rhythm is important.

I rarely click on the “related artists” section of Spotify because I tend to just like that one artist, not anything they’re influenced by (I swear everyone’s influenced by Algernon Cadwallader and I just can’t stand them (actually that’s kind of unfair, they’re good, but I’m not sure I’d listen to them of my own accord)), but sometimes you just have to take the plunge in life, and so here we are, on my new sofa, in my new home, my third in three years, listening to Everyone Everywhere’s self-titled album.

Usually when the bright, twinkly emo guitars come in you can expect some whiny white boy to come in over the top of it, half screaming, half whining, with that horrible nasaly voice (Algernon, Snowing, TWIABP) and like, sure, yeah we can do that, but we can also do so much more with the music than just playing off what’s already been done but with different lyrics.

Like, this song here I’m on, Fervor and Indifference in the Bica (is that a Panic! At The Disco joke), just came in with like, a banjo or something, and then some trumpets lightly playing over the top of it, and it just adds a small extra layer on the sound that doesn’t overpower the guitars (obviously the key part of any emo song) but actually complements it, and you just never seem to get complementary music in emo but guys, please, come on, the whole point is to make something enjoyable to listen to, right? Or get your emotions out or whatever, but you can still do this and make the song nice.

And the singer (don’t know his name) doesn’t whine as much, he more drones, and heck, I like a good drone every now and then, paticularly in a sea of whine, it’s that kind of melancholic acceptance, but also he’s in key and in tune and doesn’t make me want to rip off my own ears, which is always a bonus, and sorry I got distracted for a second there because I was looking into franchising my own burrito place, because damn why wouldn’t you? Imagine making burritos all day. And eating burritos all day.

Christ I’m really really hungry.

Everyone Everywhere doesn’t really make me feel anything - I’m not particuarly caught up in any of this, but it’s relatively relaxing (insofar as emo can be relaxing) and easy to just stick on the in background, and let’s be real, sometimes you just need that kind of shit in your life.

You can find Everyone Everywhere on Spotify if you’re a scrub like me, or you can check out their releases on Bandcamp despite the fact they seem to be defunct.

[waltzingisfrowneduponzine]

Best of 2016: #1: “The Impossible Kid” - Aesop Rock

The fact that this might not even rank on other Best Of lists is worrying to me, because it is, and will long be, one of the most beautiful albums ever release.

Ok so first I want to deal with some negatives: the three tracks after Lazy Eye may as well not be there - Defender is a slow drag through turf already tread, Water Tower just isn’t great, and by the time you get to Molecules, a good song, you’re basically done.

So if an album has bad songs, how can it still be the best? Is a question people who do not understand critical reviews would ask - it supposes that perfection means everything is always great, when in reality perfection is what sticks with you for a long time following, perfection is what you reach for when you’re feeling low - perfection is junk food or sweet drinks - it is not that every component of the thing is the best ever, but that for you, when you love it, when you accept its flaws and unceasingly praise its highs, for you it is perfect.

The Impossible Kid is perfect - it is Aesop Rock’s most honest release to date, brutally at times, talking about his depression, the root causes, going to a shrink, buying a cat just to try and feel better, feeling like he’s worthless, everything that he has been alluding to in his last releases but never explicitly said it out loud, and now here he is, like, fuck, Aes, you ok?

The lyrics are impenetrable as ever, but the delivery says it all - it’s downbeat and sad, its beats are dark, the bits you understand tell you everything you need to know about what’s going on here, but you can bop your head and feel the rhythm and not get too dragged down into the darkness, it’s a good sound and I want to play the songs at clubs and watch people jam or whatever people do these days.

This is the album I blasted while getting lost in Amsterdam and knew literally no one in the country while I was there. This is the album I reached for late at night when working, or during the day when working, or just working in general really. It soothes me, somehow.

It’s just a really, really, really good album, and Aesop is still a fantastic fucking rapper, and his production skill is at its all-time best, and just... give it a listen. Please.

Stand-out tracks: Rings, Lazy Eye, Rabies

You can find The Impossible Kid on a range of reputable sites and locations or find it on Aesop Rock’s bandcamp page.

[waltzingisfrowneduponzine]

Best of 2016: #2: “Late Again...” - Fox Lake

Yes a two-track single had more of an impact on me than the majority of music released in 2016.

I have written about Fox Lake before - I focused purely on the use of the word “fuck” in Summer Snow - but I have since gone back and listened to the two tracks that compose Late Again... again and again and again, more than, I think, any other album or single or song released this entire year, and I will now attempt to explain why.

Both songs on Late Again... are remarkably similar, not necessarily in structure, but the tone and sound and feel of the whole thing feels constant and familiar, so that both songs blend into one in a glorious way and not in a “christ is this still going” way.

There’s technical prowess here and everyone is clearly a master of what they play, but the band each get room to breathe and show off, and they also know what works well together to make a cohesive piece of music overall that doesn’t overpower the mix, it all just works in a way that so often math-y music just doesn’t, or at least in an interesting enough fashion for me.

But the vocals, even though I can’t work out the lyrics, are majestic - the refrain from Half-mast features a harmony that catches me off-guard every time, with its emotional lead carried by straight harmonics that stop it from being too whiny but don’t steal its thunder, but every track features this mix of clean and growled vocals and shouting and harmony that is intense and soft at the same time - it is a thing of beauty to hear.

It’s only ten minutes of your time and you should check it out, if you like punk and emo and math then this could be your new obsession.

Stand-out tracks: Half-mast, Summer Snow, there’s literally only two songs

You can listen to and buy Late Again... from Fox Lake’s bandcamp page.

[waltzingisfrowneduponzine]

Best of 2016: #3: “This Makes Me Wish I Didn’t Wish I Were Dead” - Hannibal Montana

, wIf the Best Of series were determined by title names this would win hands down, well done everyone, let’s go home and have a nice cuppa and enjoy the new year, but it isn’t, so let’s take a closer look I guess.

I own a poster of Hannibal Montana’s 28-20 EP but I never really considered myself a “fan” if you will, I just liked the art and was collecting CDs and enjoyed the first track on the album and, y’know, I wouldn’t skip it when it came on, but I wouldn’t actively seek it out either.

Don’t remember when I caught up on their latest material and first heard This Makes Me Wish I Didn’t Wish I Were Dead but when I did I was kind of mesmerised. It was the exact kind of album I was looking for at the time, with huge guitar and ridiculous skill across all three musicians, looping parts that never seemed to end, speeding up, slowing down, getting loud, getting quiet.

As a whole, the album is spectacular - it shifts almost seamlessly between tracks while still having a distinct feel for each of them, and the level of technical mastery on each one is mind-blowing, without being so ridiculously over-the-top that it becomes almost annoying and self-indulgent (although really all math-rock is self-indulgent but that’s just a given at this point), it hits that middle ground of being “oh shit how did they do that” and “jesus christ this is just really enjoyable to listen to and not over-analyse to death”.

It’s an album I got into late in the year, and I feel bad for doing that because I could’ve given it even more attention if I hadn’t sat on it for so long, but also heck yeah I listened to it all day on repeat once, you know yr boi is that kind of kid, and I’m listening to it now and it still surprises me at some points and feels lovely and familiar at others.

To Postpone the Hempen Dance is by far and away my favourite track, slowing everything right down and going a bit quieter on everything, before building up in an enormous swell that crashes down over you, and you come away from the experience feeling clean and refreshed and ready to take on anything, yet it kind of needs all the songs before you to get you to the point at which it works its magic best - alone, out of context, it might not give the same feeling as it does as part of the whole experience.

But that experience is deserving of the word - the album is fantastic, and I cannot recommend it enough.

Stand-out tracks: Reptile Dysfunction, Hannibal, Missouri, To Postpone the Hempen Dance

You can stream and download This Makes Me Wish I Didn’t Wish I Were Dead from Hannibal Montana’s bandcamp page.