The sleeve design for Hélène Barbier's 2021 LP Regulus caught my eye, but the music never connected; four years later, the opposite is true with Panorama, an album that, on the surface, hits a sweet spot between terse post-punk and more dreary, reverb-ridden capital-R Romance. The last bit is provided, mostly, by Barbier's calm, breathy vocal delivery, though the lyrics are more biting when you lean in ("Milquetoast"). The vocals float atop winding guitar lines that can sound like big name acts, as both the Cars and Interpol come to mind at various points. But the execution on Panorama is stainless steel surgical; no grease from cheese, no filler found or needed. The goofy bounce of "Marcel," like the artwork, isn't my favorite, but nearly every other track here connects, from the sparkling sway of "Lapin" to possible song of the year "Dans l'os." A bit of a calming effect, true, though the svelte set of tracks on Panorama deserve a wide audience.
Maraudeur returns three years after Puissance 4, and the formula for the Leipzig five-piece remains much the same: twisted-and-taut spindly post-punk, delivered with a knowing smirk and a pinch of vulnerability. That last bit is as evident as ever on "(Legacy)," but it's fleeting; most of Flaschenträger zips by on quick-shifting compositions and bemused vocals. "Ah" has this nice trick where the song shifts from a crooked, knotty Devo track to a galloping beat taken to the stratosphere, all connected by a single synth note. Yet another quality release from Cincinnati's Feel It Records.
For those looking for a harder edge to their gnarled compositions, VoidCeremony's Abditum should fit nicely. The death metal trio glides like a murmuration across their complex compositions, and they maintain a balance between impressive musicianship and accessibility without tipping the listener toward exhaustion. Basically: it's easy to do this genre wrong, where it's only fun for the people playing technical/progressive death metal and the people who want to play it, and VoidCeremony sidesteps that with concise compositions that spiral and swell with the requisite crunch. The whole album zips by in under 30 minutes, and gets better as it goes along; no unnecessary detours taken here, just a potent blast of satisfyingly chunky and complex death metal.
Verity Den released my favorite album last year, as I'd tell anyone who would dare inquire about what I was listening to, so it was without hesitation that I scooped their latest LP, Wet Glass. There have been comparisons to Yo La Tengo, a genuine mark of indie rock quality, but YLT hasn't released an album as concise and cohesive as Wet Glass. This is clearly a pored-over record, and the details are so rich that the mostly-instrumental tracks can outshine the more conventional songs; "Unsolved Mysteries" or "All It Was" at top volume should have people pounding down their door for production assists. There's more gold abound: the title track and its irresistible, unassuming riff; the Dischord shout-singing on "Spit Red"; and the subtle way that Casey Proctor's pink fog vocals split open "Green Drag" on the chorus. Stunner, and for sure one of the best records of this stupid year.
A throwback, but a worthy one: Woolen Men are no more, but their discography remains about as bulletproof as it gets. Their two collection LPs, Dog Years and Lucky Box, offer the most rewarding experience, compiled from covers, limited cassettes, etc., and make a great introduction to the band. Very reductively, they plucked pieces of the Clean, the Fall, the Feelies, and any other smart/sharp rock band of the last 50 years and glued them together with an acerbic wit, genuine enthusiasm and a strong sense of dynamics. Can't say enough good things about 'em, and I hope every city and town gets their own version of Woolen Men. Anyway - been playing Lucky Box a lot this year, a little mental stimulus when things feel shitty, and their cover of Neo Boys' "In Disguise" has become a now-again favorite. You deserve this in your life.
The Higher State - Inside Information Man
Freckle - Taraval
Poppy Jean Crawford - Glamorous
clipping. - Keep Pushing
House Of All - Born At Dawn And Dead At Sunset
The Embrooks - Terry and Julie
The Jackets - Intuition
Chime School - Mercury Girl (Cleaners From Venus)
Splitterzelle - Golem
Cosey Mueller - Trotzstadt
Junior Dell & The D-Lites - Can't Stop The Reggae
Woolen Men - Change Life
Loose Koozies - Wobbly Wheel
Fleur - Tu N'es Rien
FACS - Wish Defense
Rotary Club - Safety Line
T.T.T.T. - I Saw You On The Bloody Floor
Ichi-Bons - Get Away
"Amateur" is not only the word softly wailed at the end of a song of the same name on Woolen Men's Post. Amateur is a word that can be carefully held up like an apple against Woolen Men's oeuvre, checked for worms and then snapped into with verve. Hundreds of songs into a disheveled decade, on Post, Woolen Men have written nine of their best.
The gasoline that fueled some of their earlier straight-punk has all burned off, but like well-stoked embers, the promise of a fire is ever present. The songs with the most urgent beats, like the moving "Brick Horizon", or the raspier "Twin Flames" bounce without malice on clean guitar, sounding like the Feelies caught somewhere between their first two albums. The trio makes more space than ever before by flashing melody in turns apart and together between voice and the guitars. The unhurried release of emotionally rich melodies glows softly and steady. Woolen Men can manifest into a number of different bands, and here also play-up a motorik tick that clears the path for the wide-eyed observation of the amateur.
On Post, facile instrumentation and concrete observations are dyed in in their own private language. Here the surreal is most effectively routed in the mundane, so that lines like, "anyway, you're dead,” snap the listener's neck with their plainness. The post of the title is almost certainly the wooden kind seen on the cover, inelegantly tethered to the earth, because while the band's winking, omnivorous approach to music is indeed post-modern, the Woolen Men direct our attention to the inherent puzzle of plain earthliness.
A nice thought on the amateur: because their craft is thought below the expert, they often continue on forever for the joy of the pursuit. Quietly and uncompromisingly amateurs become masters, all the while maintaining an unexhausted love for their craft. It calls to mind the lesser used definition of that word, meaning one who loves. Post is in that way a record of love, a catalogue of the remarkable peculiarity of the daily pursuit, and the everlasting sublime of making meaning through music.
Sneaking a few in before April's done and gone. Many of these musics were experienced digitally only for the most part, whether it was due to lack of a physical product or expensive import prices, none of which now apply (except for the Stone Rollers) as I finally get around to posting this. Ian's making Light Metal Age tapes, MIKE just put Pinball on CD, I finally pulled the trigger on KNÆKKET SMIL, etc. Still, the car is the place where most listening is done these days, an unavoidable and really-not-that-bad reality. Windows down, these up:
Maria Bertel & Nina Garcia, KNÆKKET SMIL (Kraak/No Lagos Musique/Otomatik)
It would not be much of an understatement to say I'm a bit burned out on free-improv-jazz and adjacent records, but a live video posted earlier this year by @dustedandsocial piqued my interest in this duo. Nina Garcia shreds and mangles the guitar in a manner both controlled and explosive, like the best no wave auteurs, but the draw here is what Maria Bertel does with the trombone. She pulls these long, drawn-out notes from the belly of the instrument, like glass fibers being pulled from a melt, reminiscent Phill Niblock's arrangements for cello or voice. There's plenty of scrape 'n skronk coming from the trombone, too, like on "Trick & Illusion," but I find the bass-y drones to be more interesting. The end result is a brittle, harsh push-pull between the relatively free guitar and the more grounded trombone, where it often sounds like the two are running in circles in a room with their eyes closed, occasionally colliding to combine forces. When they are not at odds, as on "Nightmare of a Lunatic," the results can be thrilling. At other points on the record I am reminded of Harvey Milk's "Pinnochio's Example" (the title track), later-period Sightings ("Lost Arts," "Twin Truths") and the instrumental side of Khanate ("Playground of Blind Forces," "Inorganic Body"). Given how this is presented - bare, without any perceivable ornamentation or post-production - it makes for a tough listen; you've gotta be in the mood for something this harsh and unadorned, 'cause meeting you halfway isn't happening. But, if you've any affinity for old instruments hammered into new shapes by inspired/inspiring hands, there's some powerful, almost-mystic energy wafting from the grooves.
Bobby Would, Relics of Our Life (Digital Regress)
Bobby’s back, continuing his partnership with the esteemed Digital Regress label, who brought his STYX release to the LP format. STYX was dedicated to his mother, and initial listens have left me convinced that Relics also appears to be wrestling with her passing. Unlike STYX, which contained tracks like "Hype On" that worked themselves into something resembling upbeat and energetic, Relics is a comparatively somber affair. It's bookended by two quiet instrumental tracks ("Runaway" is especially good), and in between is more skeletal, maybe even refined, version of Bobby Would. The overall effect here is often reminiscent of Wonderfuls, or Lewsberg on In Your Hands: gossamer-thin arrangements, sparkling guitars, slow tempos and mumbled vocals. While there are points where Bobby Would presents as a bit listless or hopeless, it never stretches to the maudlin, mostly due to the opaque phrasing. As on previous BW releases, the lyrics are still usually little more than repetition of single phrases until they become profound, which works especially well on these subdued arrangements. The more I listen, the more it sounds like a natural progression from his last two proper LPs, the subtle refinement of a now-signature sound. Like “Maybe You Should” from World Wide World, “Tryin' 2," "Is It Nice Now?" and “No More” rank with some of his best slow dancers; "Explain" and "All I Do" feel like Baby's grown now, using only the necessary elements to create a song and cutting the tape when it's done (not that Bobby Would has ever had a problem with economy). The only misstep here? The hidden track at the end of the physical record, a cover of UB40's "Red Red Wine" (no fucking joke), and nothing more need be said about that. The nine tracks that properly make up Relics of Our Life deserve to be lived in, spindly guitar lines swirling around like smoke and mumbled vocal incantations taking you elsewhere for the duration. Another unassuming gem from the surprisingly durable Bobby Would.
Light Metal Age, s/t (self-released)
In retrospect, I think Gen Pop's PPM66 is one of the best records to come out in the past decade, wringing modern ennui by the neck to squeeze out lyrical inspiration, nailing down a balance between catchy and smart in an impressively effortless way. That record flew, and still flies, under the radar, unfortunately, and the band is no more. Light Metal Age is the new project of Gen Pop's Ian Patrick Corrigan, and it sorta picks up the thread of PPM66, but veers off into the countrified black humor of Country Teasers ("Quil Ceda"), lonesome new age ("Oakland 2017"), and a chilling minimal synth track ("Garage In Meridian"). Corrigan's vocals sound like Bill Callahan in his early days as Smog, but in content he appears to be searching for a place or meaning or some sign that the world isn't as backwards and cruel as it actually is. I think opener "What He's Done" is my favorite song of the year so far, a perfectly dusty guitar line paired with deep, reverberated vocals coldly presenting a personal inventory (“Tattoos since he was 20,” “$20K he owes/20 years to go”). It’s all tied together by the chorus of “You said let it go/But do you know/what he’s done?,” the anxiety of being a prisoner of your past neatly summarized. “Quil Ceda" is my other standout favorite, the biting line "It will make you sick" now popping up in my head all too often as I go about my days. Really, there's something to like on every track here: the double-timed portion toward the end of "T.U.L.I.P."; the rain-soaked, pre-dawn alleys conjured by "Garage In Meridian"; and the subdued Ben Wallers impression on "Gaps In the Material." Sure, "Oakland 2017" is maybe a bit long and saps momentum plopped in the middle, but this seems more like a mixtape than a finished product, and I've come to appreciate the cracks in the tracks forced together. I've been playing it non-stop for nearly two months now, a potent distillation of the young American's modern struggle, laid out without self-pity and the right amount of simmering discontent. Can't ask for much more.
MIKE & Tony Seltzer, Pinball (10K)
Here’s an unexpectedly economical and breezy offering from MIKE, produced entirely by Tony Seltzer. Not sure what Tony Seltzer did here to allow MIKE to let down his guard and puff out his chest a little, but it’s a welcome change of pace, if a bit forgettable. Seltzer’s beats aren’t going to have many rappers come calling, but they’re exciting enough jumping off points for MIKE to try on different personas. I get hints of UGK-era Bun-B (named checked in “Underground Kingz,” as required), Young Dolph, and Lil Baby in MIKE’s rapping on Pinball, and it’s fun and jarring to hear him rap over trap beats like “Yin-Yang.” For all his efforts, the album lags in spots - “100 Gecs,” “Underground Kingz” and “R&B” have become laborious over multiple listens, the beats sputtering, the rapping losing steam without MIKE’s usual emotional overflow. But the opener “Two Door,” the unassuming bounce of “Skurrr” and "Pinball," and the Niontay-featuring “2k24 Tour” still connect, MIKE throwing off a satin boxing robe and sparring with whoever. It’s true that overexposure to this album over the past few weeks has probably taken away some of its luster, but hearing MIKE in this capacity paints a more complete picture of him as an artist. Short ‘n mostly sweet, with no tears, Pinball’s sure to be a steady listen through the punishing summer ahead.
The Stone Rollers, The Ballad of Bill Spears (self-released)
Are the Woolen Men done? Nothing official on that, but members are shifting priorities to other groups: guitarist Lawton Browning is in Change Life, and the Stone Rollers features WM drummer Raf Spielman. The Stone Rollers have been releasing single tracks, one at a time, since September of last year, and The Ballad of Bill Spears puts all four tracks together. It's a separate project and unfair to compare the two, though there are strong sonic similarities to the Woolen Men. The Stone Rollers are bouncy and hard-strumming, somewhere between folk protest songs (yes, there's harmonica) and country with a punk edge (but obviously not as bad as that descriptor conjures). In the spirit of the best country songs, the Stone Rollers don't restrain themselves from saying some really mean shit on these songs, taking people to task with an acid tongue and leaving without apology. I like all four songs - if you're not listening to the lyrics too closely, these are breezy pop songs with the strong character of the '60s - but I think "The Shell Song" and "You Can't Reach Me" are the two best. The former has the harshest lyrics ("When I see you down the line, I hope you're not the same" and "I won't wait around to see what you become/because good or bad I do not care at all"), and "You Can't Reach Me" is an ode to the dream of escaping "my life/bound up so tight" for the greener grass. All four tracks are simple and effective/affecting in an immediate way, familiar but bristling, classic-sounding but unmistakably modern. A nice teaser from the Rollers, who I can only hope will excoriate this feeble review on an upcoming track.
Human to Human is a new 45 rpm 12″ from Woolen Men, a trio from Portland continually burrowing into their sound, filtering all the right reference points and compressing them into an irresistible whole. Descriptors like “workmanlike,” “your favorite band’s favorite band,” any manner of phrasing used to basically paint the band as a reliable and satisfying purveyor of a sound that, for all its zest and sagacity, lacks provocation and resides comfortably outside of the hype cycle. That’s part of the allure, as the band cherry-picks bits of the Minutemen, the Feelies, the Fall, the ‘Mats, and flush it full of fresh life, introducing a crispness and enthusiasm absent from a lot of contemporary peers working in this realm. (For what it’s worth, I’d offer the Gotobeds as another example of unfairly ignored/maligned indie rock that is genuinely exciting and fresh.) In any case: Woolen Men are responsible for Temporary Monument and Post, two albums that show light years of growth from their early singles and self-titled LP, and likely two modern classics as far as guitar-based music is concerned. Human to Human, quietly released at the end of last year, thankfully continues the trend, making subtle advances toward more politically charged lyrics (”Space Invaders,” “K-Punk”) and testing the waters of some new sounds. The results are somewhat mixed: “Ecstasy of an Ant,” the most obvious sonic departure and my favorite track here, flirts with bossa nova rhythms; closer “Crash” picks up an acoustic guitar, and, despite the best efforts of the keyboard accompaniment, ends up a bit too cloying. The bulk of this 12″ is closer to the Woolen Men of Temporary Monument, punk-inflected indie rock but absent overt aggression, though “Mexico City Blues” and “Your Kind” nearly boil over. The band expertly inserts flourishes, like the siren-sounding part of “Space Invaders,” and build bridges that displace walls, the accessibility of their sound tied to a sense of community and a disdain for hierarchy or pretension (see for example the “comrade pricing” available at WM-adjacent label See My Friends). Straight up, there’s really no one doing this sound better right now, and as simple or even bland as it looks on paper, it ain’t easy to convincingly make indie rock with purpose and precision like Woolen Men do. Support the real.
Human to Human is out on the band’s own Dog’s Table records. Lots of Woolen Men’s discography is still physically available from their Bandcamp, too. Somewhat related: I’d also highly recommend scooping the Mope Grooves LP, Desire, that came out on See My Friends last year if you see it around; if you can’t trust me, trust that it’s Tom Lax approved!
A handful of favorites from what seemed like a particularly strong year for music. Rest in peace to Yuzo Iwata, who had the album of the year the second I heard it. I Dischi Del Barone was my label of the year; everything Matthias released could’ve gone on here. Most releases listed below are readily available via any links provided: support the artists, and let’s keep this thing rolling.
LP
Yuzo Iwata, Daylight Moon (Siltbreeze)
Mournful Congregation, The Incubus of Karma (20 Buck Spin)
Lolina, The Smoke (self-released)
The Body, I Have Fought Against It, But I Can’t Any Longer. (Thrill Jockey)
Woolen Men, Post (Dog’s Table)
Constant Mongrel, Living In Excellence (La Vida Es Un Mus/Anti Fade)
Mamitri Yulith Empress Yonagunisan, Yulith Lilith (Bruit Direct Disques)
Vilkacis / Turia split (Altare Productions)
Arv & Miljö, Svensk sommar i stilla frid (Omlott)
Six more:
Chris Corsano & Bill Orcutt, Brace Up! (Palilalia)
The Doozer, Figurines (Feeding Tube)
Geld, Perfect Texture (Iron Lung)
The Native Cats, John Sharp Toro (R.I.P. Society)
Patois Counselors, Proper Release (ever/never)
Mette Rasmussen & Tashi Dorji, s/t (Feeding Tube)
12″ / 7″ / cassette
Mosquitoes, Drip Water Hollow Out Stone 12″ (ever/never)
Alienation, Bitter Reality 7″ (Warthog Speak)
Fåglar I Bur, “Platt” b/w “Öppen Inbjudan” 7″ (I Dischi Del Barone)
Healer / DJ Eons, Dank Goblins split 7″ (Warthog Speak)
Phrenelith, Ornamented Dead Eyes 7″ (Night Shroud)
Rapid Dye, Nurture or Destroy 7″ (Paradise Daily)
Mary Lattimore, Charlie’s Yard cassette (Petty Bunco)
Long Hots, Monday Night Raw cassette (self-released)
Wonderfuls, Voices Like Rain cassette (Round Bale)
Reissues? My research was scattered and lacking, but my top picks would be the Nightcrawlers’ Biophonic Boombox Recordings 2xLP, a much-needed reissue of Corrupted’s Se Hace Por Los Asesinos (buy that here or here), and Cut by Bill Direen/Bilders.
Above: Mizmor at Migration Fest 2018, Mr. Small’s Theatre, Pittsburgh, PA
Shows
Migration Fest at Mr. Small’s Theatre, Pittsburgh, PA: So many great sets, bolstered by the best company I could ask for and a multitude of trips to the nearby Grist House brewery. Mizmor, Mournful Congregation, Hell, Yellow Eyes and Fórn were my favorite performances of the weekend.
Primitive Man and Spectral Voice at the End, Nashville, TN
Bill Direen / Bilders at the Pilot Light, Knoxville, TN
