BULGING, “Spaces”
Composed of members of Birmingham’s stellar NULL, Bulging
pines a similar sonic terrain though I’d say a bit more loose and weird. While NULL basks in slower, repetitive
heavy mantras Bulging works in angular melodies, a touch of late 90’s Dischord
oddity, and a bit of lo-fi. But
they still keep it fairly slow and, at times, kind of heavy, with areas of
vocal repetition. It’s definitely
a record that makes you a bit uneasy listening to, like there’s something kind
of sinister and weird lurking beneath the otherwise cool songs going on
here. “Song #8” is the most upbeat
of the bunch with it’s breezy melody that eventually breaks into a Hoover-esque
sort of blown-out chorus. I’m not
sure what to reference with this as it reminds me of a few things that don’t at
all go together, but it fits into it’s own little compartment. Slow, odd, melodic, lurking, sorta
heavy, some bits of slower no-wave weirdness, but still catchy and
entertaining? Bulging, look into
it, get weird. (self-released)
BUMMER, “Holy Terror”
Get ready to get pulverized by an endless barrage of
riffs. Bummer, who surprisingly do
not come from some remote hellscape (well, maybe Kansas City might be
hell-ish), sure do have a lot of pent up aggression for three seemingly
easy-going Midwesterners. However,
this is music meant for totally directionless pothead heshers who stay awake
for three days at a time raging as hard as humanly possible and want to explore
the other end of aggressive music that isn’t Municipal Waste. So before the inevitable tidal wave of
vomit comprised entirely of stale beer, moldy pizza, probably some guys class
ring swallowed on a dare, and a punch card eaten in protest of working comes
spewing forth this record needs to be the soundtrack of everything that comes
before that. Every Time I Die
minus the metalcore? Breather
Resist without all the math-y parts, but just as chaotic? The soundtrack for smashing beercans on
your forehead after power bombing on your skateboard off a parking garage and
puking into a dumpster. I fucking
love this record. (Learning Curve)
CHRMR, “Respective Orbits”
This is totally on me, but I just assumed this Rochester, NY
band was named after the Breather Resist album of the same name, which lead me
to think they sounded like that.
Nothing could really be further from truth and it’s sort of fucking me
up trying to justify why this group sounds like something completely
different. I’m learning to live
with it. Featuring ex-members of
local heavyweights Sulaco this group takes a somewhat different approach, which
is primarily in the vocals. So imagine some of the more modern vibes going on
with Baroness and Mastodon, sludge-ify it by about 30% and add completely sung
vocals. It’s overall pretty heavy
music, but has a sort of mainstream-ish appeal at times because of those vocals
and some of the melodic tendencies going on. I’m going to say though, the vocals- they’re just not doing
it for me. Not into it. Some of
the music is executed wonderfully and has a very epic, sludgy heaviness to it
that reminds the listener of that Sulaco connection, and just good, heavy music
in general. This is only 6 songs
but it clocks in at close to half an hour so it may as well be a full length. (self-released)
HUNDREDS OF AU, “Communications Link Re-established”
You can take the boy out of New Jersey but you can’t take
the New Jersey out of the boy.
That’s the classic old saying, right? No? So
what. I’m going with it. For as long as I can remember my man
Tom Schlatter has been hashing it out in numerous New Jersey bands, some more
known than others, and he certainly has his own style. Sure, it owes a lot to old Ebullition
Records material and chaotic emo of the mid-late 90’s, but now when I hear
modern bands that take a page from that style (think Touche Amore and certain
parts of Converge for more well-known, albeit not-quite-on-the-nose,
comparisons) I kind of think of various NJ miscreants laying the groundwork for
a lot of that. Having moved up to
the wasteland of Albany, NY Schlatter started Hundreds Of Au with a different
lineup that released a decent demo, but it kind of sputtered out fairly
quick. Enter a handful of dudes
from New Jersey to re-invigorate the project and Hundreds Of Au now has this
9-song CD that races by in about 17 minutes, and it’s quite good. So yes, if 90’s-styled fast,
passionate, screamed aggressive emo that gets chaotic while still finding a
hook and melody from time to time is your thing this ought to scratch that itch
quite nicely. And then you have to
write a 9 page essay to HeartattaCk about how the ‘itch’ ‘scratched’ was
‘metaphorical’ and you would never really aim to do harm to your own skin.
(Middleman Records)
INTEGRITY/ KRIEG split
Dom Romeo continues his reign over the Integrity camp with
several more songs that focus heavily on the thrash/Japanese hardcore worship,
mixed with some serious evil metal.
Sure, Integrity is already sort of known for that, but the more
breakdown-heavy hardcore that comprises a lot of their material is pretty much
abandoned on this split. I’m not
much of a metal guy really, but I think one of the songs on this side is a
cover, but I’m not certain. Krieg
I’m not too familiar with because they’re typically considered a black metal
band and I’m definitely not into black metal by and large. However, Krieg sound more like just, ya
know, regular metal with vocals recorded in some old cave or sewer. They break out a new song, an older
song, and a live track on their side.
Some of it works, some of it gets kind of dull after a bit. But, you know, it’s evil. Hail Satan. (Relapse)
JAY JAYLE, “No Trail and Other Unholy Paths”
I’m always amazed at how Evan Patterson can work within a
genre (or subgenre) and just completely master it, whether it’s the math-y
hardcore of National Acrobat and Breather Resist, or switching gears to
simplified heavy amp/pedal worship noise rock in Young Widows, and now
something completely different with Jaye Jayle. What started as a solo project that evolved into a pretty
serious band, things started as primal dark, dusty desert tunes infused with
bits of Americana and blues. But
man oh man, this new record just blows everything else they have done to date
out of the water. Things still
retain a repetitive, trance-like simplicity, but mixed into the dark folk is
almost industrial-sounding krautrock and vibed-out synthesizers, occasional
saxophone bleating, plenty of back-up vocals and a confidence that sets a tone
of eerie loneliness. As David Yow
would say, “like dust with boots on”…
this is kind of that and Jaye Jayle have really unleashed an excellent
record that draws you in and leaves you all alone in the middle of
nowhere. They have really gained a
mastery of whatever it is that they’re doing and with each stylistic change
that Patterson goes through in his various musical outfits I’m happy to be
along for the ride as a fan.
(Sargent House)
OVLOV, “Tru”
They were around for awhile, did some very Dinosaur Jr
sounding records, split up hard, and now they’re back together doing more very
Dinosaur Jr sounding music. So
there’s nothing wrong with that. OK, so that’s oversimplifying it a bit. But it does have some strong Dino Jr
vibes happening. And there’s also
plenty of lo-fi, fuzzed-out beyond your wildest shoegaze-y dreams jams, some
chill indie rocking a la bands like Teenage Cool Kids, and just a hint of synth
thrown in here and there for good measure. While things feel all ‘coasting down a dream’ contemplative
and driving on songs like “Stick”, and then get quiet-to-loud Sonic Youth
freak-out on “Tru Punk”, and go full blown-out speakers with the speedy and
dense “Fast G”, it’s album closer “Grab It From the Garden” which shows Ovlov
in a form that very much suits them- slow and thunderous crushes of Hum-esque
distortion and pretty melodies amongst the lush rock this band has turned out
on past records. It’s quite
an excellent return to form for these Connecticut cats and I for one am glad to
see them back in action. They have
made quite an exceptional return, even if the band was put to bed for only a
couple years before re-emerging.
(Exploding In Sound)
PRETTY PLEASE, “Fur Model” CD
Heavy grunge.
Nirvana worship slowed down to early 90’s Melvins speed for much of the
record. Add to that some second
tier picked-over forgotten grunge major label casualties in the melody
department and you get a fair assessment of how Pretty Please sounds, whom I
guarantee were barely kids when the era they are cherry picking from was
occurring. I’m hardly bashing this
though. I’m pretty into it. I’m kind of surprised how well they get
the era nuances down pat. “Milk
Steak” pines Nirvana’s “Big Long Now” hard for a dip into B-side territory,
while “It Pays To Complain” moves fast enough to make up for the syrupy pace of
many of the other tracks here. “Valentine”
goes for a creepy-late-night-stalker-creeping-in-the-bushes vibe that for
whatever reason- and I swear I mean nothing negative by this- reminds me of
Filter meets the Toadies.
Honestly, I think it may be my favorite track on this. Really, this is good stuff. I’m enjoying it thoroughly and you
ought to as well. (self-released)
SUPERTHIEF, "Eating Alone In My Car" EP
After some buzz with several releases over the last couple
years Austin’s Superthief returns with a new EP of bizarre noise rock
goodness. Think the serpentine
bass of Jesus Lizard, snarky, snarled vocals a la Albini, and grating, knotty
guitar work that lurks as well as it annihilates. Things start off with a tense, yet propulsive tempo on “Gone
Country” before going into the more dirge-y and gruff “6 Months Blind”. “Woodchipper” flies right by in just
over a minute of damaged hardcore fury.
“Eating Alone In My Car” is a stop-start grooving piss take on, well, I
guess the weird awkwardness of eating alone in your car. It’s weird, pissed-off, and heavy and
ya know, I guess I can relate.
“Swaggy” closes out the EP with an ultra-tense diatribe into a swampy
mess before wrapping up with several minutes of a repetitive bass riff that
will stick with you until you’re beyond annoyed with it. I love the crazy tension, wild energy,
and messy yet cohesive damage being created by this group. (Learning Curve)
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