It's at that point in the summer when I'm more than ready for some rain. Everyone thinks it just rains all the time out here in the Northwest but it's bone dry all summer. Yeah, I know, climate change. It's real and while some sun is nice yr boy enjoys living near the woods, not the Gobi Desert. But speaking of heat, how about some guaranteed heaters on record right now? All this new good stuff might be why I'm sweating out here. Check it out:
ANTHESIS/ BOTFLY/ CELL PRESS/ GREBER split 12”
Alright, I’m going to attempt to write my way out of confusion here. This is a 4-way split LP, except there’s more like 5 groups present here. Between each band an additional performer under the name Clouds Become Oceans supplies relaxing instrumental segues so as to break up the thunderous roar of the groups taking part in this thing. So it’s more like a 5-way split? Whatever the case, the bands listed on the front of the record all emerge out of a gnarly metal-esque/HC/sludge stew where seeing them all on the same bill would make total sense, but maybe get a little redundant? Each band does a great take on essentially the same thing. If this were like a 15 band compilation I’d probably get real tired of it real quick. But since it’s four bands it makes it a little easier to separate out the differences in each. Anthesis seem to be the most metal of the bunch. They drop a single long and punishing slow dirge filled with anguished screams, a couple “Enemy Of the Sun”-style Neurosis parts, some blasting, and a closing section with lots of sick double bass. Cell Press is members of Great Sabatini and Architect slugging out riffy sludge and insanely good drumming that comes off like old Melvins and Keelhaul having a petulant asshole of a kid. You get two tracks from them, the second one “Cell Prescient” being the better/more rocking of the pair. Greber also offer a couple grimy-ass slabs of feedback-heavy sludge with a bass so deep light fails to escape when in its presence. Botfly closes things out with a unique sound that is a somewhat more melodic take on all the aforementioned bands. They’re still decidedly heavy but opt for grungy-90’s heavy as played by metal dudes. I dig it. Eastern Canada represent. (AncientTemple Records/ No Funeral Records)
BITTER BRANCHES, “Along Came a Bastard” b/w “Fraudulent” 7”
I was somewhat dismissive about Bitter Branches debut EP last year and I think, in retrospect, that it was difficult for me to grasp Tim Singer doing vocals in any band that did not sound like a 4-alarm fire at an orphanage. Every band he’s done to date (No Escape, Deadguy, Kiss It Goodbye, Family Man, etc) has been extremely caustic and his perpetual howl where every utterance sounds like someone just hit their last straw over and over again matched the intensity of those bands. Bitter Branches takes a somewhat different tack. Musically it’s still aggressive but the players seemed more schooled in Swiz and post-hardcore rocking where if Jason Farrell was on the mic things would sound completely natural. Having these rocking, but still vicious in a different way, songs fronted by a living embodiment of Travis Bickle takes a little getting used to (especially if you’re familiar with these people’s previous bands), but once it settles in it’s really cool stuff. These two tracks are a warm up to an LP coming some time later and I just love the cover art homage to the Sub Pop singles series. (Equal Vision Records)
BLOOD SUN CIRCLE, “Deep Cuts”
All good things are worth waiting for and having the boys in Blood Sun Circle grace us with one more record, even after they have ceased being a band, is just a little taste of Christmas come early. Even though these 7 songs were recorded a couple years back they sat dormant as the members gravitated towards other projects and life stuff, but here they finally are now to enjoy. While those who have paid attention to their activities for years now will no doubt have expectations for anything the Gorham brothers are involved in to be heavy and super loud Blood Sun Circle has always taken a route that relies a bit more on tension and the slow build rather than immediate pummeling. Yet make no mistake, even though these songs may have a lot of parts that aren’t riddled with distortion they are still loud. They can pierce with uneasy tension without dragging you along for too long (most songs hover near the four minute mark) and then strike in a way that sounds more like a natural progression rather than a sudden shift and it’s only after the song has passed you notice how it has cleaved clean through you. Plus, for those keeping tabs, you can see how this has lead into some of the members current project Bent Limbs (who dropped an LP earlier this year) in terms of progression of sound into even more morose and quiet tension-filled unease. Midway point “Pact Of Dogs” is a completely acoustic song (with violin and cello accompaniment) that could be a funeral elegy for a lonesome camping trip in the high desert, while both “Dead Ringer” and “Eyes In the Rye” have the most “aggressive” feel on the record with a sort of chugging riff in both, which is not to say ‘you’re moshing’… more like ‘you’re in rapt attention’. We’re grown ups here, let’s impress listeners intellect rather than get them swinging their arms. Once again, vocalist/guitarist Bob Gorham puts together a beautiful design for the record, as he has done for all the groups releases. (Drops Of Us)
BRAIN CAVE, “Log World” 7”
I’m sorry to say I’m a little late to the party with this band. They released an incredibly wonderful full length in 2020 and I didn’t catch wind of it until the beginning of this year. It would have easily made my top 5 records of that year had I known of it. But here’s my chance now to fill you in on Cleveland’s Brain Cave as they have just released this new 4-song 7” that continues their post-hardcore call-to-arms. Imagine Quicksand with an added layer of sludgy space grunge hammering out both fuzzy anthems (“Promotion To Autopilot”) and outer-space ‘ponder-the-size-of-it-all’ droning heaviness (“Final Miles”) while hiking in a misty forest as the sound of a sasquatch keeps you moving. Which is cool because I think half these songs are about hiking by your lonesome in the woods anyway. I’m right there with ya. Come out to the Pacific Northwest and I’ll show you some foggy trails. We’ll jam this record the whole time and it will be the perfect soundtrack. Go grab this and pick up their long player “Stuck In the Mud” while you’re at it. (Head2Wall Records)
EYECANDY, “The Promontory”
This band sounds like they could be scoring the soundtrack for “Pretty In Pink” if it were directed by Tom Hazelmeyer and the cast of “Repo Man” stopped by to do some cheap drugs. It’s both forlorn and scuzzy. It’s the sound of daydreaming about asking your crush to the dance but being absolutely disgusted with yourself at the thought of doing so. I think a lot of that has to do with the vocals, which have a very ‘I want to scream but all this Xanax is making it tough’ style to them. Imagine all the cleaner parts of Hammerhead’s “Ethereal Killer”, or Love 666 but more mid-tempo, and you got a start of what’s going on here. However, it’s not all the aforementioned. Eyecandy seem at their most ambitious on the track “Scrap”, which starts off with boisterous post-hardcore groove as performed with as much racket as possible before moving into an unnerving and Unwound-ish quieter section, and then the whole thing explodes into a big almost symphonic, swirling caterwaul in it’s final minute. (The Ghost Is Clear)
MALLWALKERS, “Do Something Drastic”
In concept and execution a punk band like Mallwalkers should not exist. Do you know how hard it is to manage 9 grown-ass adult musicians with grown-up lives into a functioning group, let alone playing shows and trying to split a dollar 9 ways? That might be part of why the Buffalo collective called it quits a couple years back. However, before splitting they managed to lay down an entire third album…. consisting of 16 tracks. How? Good lord. While that just seems like too much let it be known that most of these songs average out to a couple minutes each (minus the longer opening song). Musically things shift between bouts of brief three-chord punk bliss (“Get Some More”, “Scram”), suave post-punk deconstruction (“Half Let Down”), and rhythmic dub and added percussion (“Half Let Dub”, “Breaks”). There’s plenty of horns (it’s NOT ska!), some organ, frequent shifts between guy-girl vocals, and 100% fun, dance-y punk rock n’ roll goodness. Not to mention it comes in a fantastic package featuring art/layout by Ryan Besch (Your Cinema). It’s an excellent way to go out. There’s no reason for anyone to feel short-changed by this band when they give this much parting material of quality, wrapped up in a beautiful package. Heck, for all I know, they put a bow on top of it too. (OnePercent Press)
QUICKSAND, “Distant Populations”
I’m not crying tears of joy, you’re crying tears of joy. On the second album of full-on reunited Quicksand material they go back to some more aggressive sounds that were lacking just a bit on “Interiors”. While that record was a fine return for a band that hadn’t released anything in over 20 years it definitely showed them exploring more of the melodic and space-y sounds that they were known for introducing to hardcore way back in the 90’s. But critics will say it often leaned too hard into that side of their sound. I tend to agree but I’m not mad about it. “Distant Populations” still explores that side but they save it for the B-side for the most part as they play around with drifting sonics on tracks like “The Philosopher” and the interlude “Compacted Reality”. But let me tell you about the A-side. Yes, the A-side is heavy on the hits here as the entire first half of this album is so pleasing to the ear, as each player does what they do so well, reminding long time fans (me) why Quicksand are so special. They evoke both the familiar, as well as taking it to the here and now, which is a hard thing to manage for bands that either reunite, or have been at it for a very long time. Quicksand find success here and it’s an absolute joy to listen to. From the lead off track, “Inversion” with it’s catchy sing-along, to the quick paced “Lightning Field” combining some more current aspects of their sound with a breakdown evoking some of the best of their older stuff, while “Katakana” has a serious “Can Opener” vibe to it. I think old heads will be pleased with this, even though I don’t think of this as a band rehashing the hits, but rather bringing great elements of their past into the framework of the songwriters that they are now. (Epitaph)
STUCK, “Content That Makes You Feel Good” EP
This is the new Stuck EP and these are their problems. Maybe I just didn’t pay attention to the lyrics in their last record, the exceptional “Change Is Bad”, but on “Content That Makes You Feel Good” guitarist/vocalist/recording engineer Greg Obis really lays out modern issues facing our society in a very direct and well-written way amongst their taut and precise post-punk clatter. They’re very good at making their sound come off as minimalist yet inserting a number of elements which really add a lot of depth, emotion, and catchiness to their overall sound. And going back to the lyrics, each song builds upon an issue; whether it be the non-stop work cycle, the scam of the gig economy, or the abuse suffered by demonstrators during last summers marches against police violence in Chicago; and it culminates in a ‘the whole system is flawed’ analysis on “White Lie” before concluding with bringing it back to personal accountability to reach out to those we think we may not have anything in common with (but probably more than we think) on “Playpen Of Dissent”. If it’s laid out that way on purpose I applaud them for constructing the EP like a story of sorts, and if not, well, congratulations anyway. I think I am especially surprised because this is a band that I think most people appreciate due to their expertise at refining noise rock and post-punk into perfectly distilled rock weirdness that you can hum along to. It’s not often a band of this style has a lot to say in a way that speaks to all, and additionally doesn’t come off as lecturing or preachy. An excellent EP all around in terms of subject matter as well as being sonically exciting. (Exploding In Sound)
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