This Track Is Fire!

You know, in another place, another time, disco never died and Italo ruled the music charts, but here on this Earth, that didn't happen, though Nuovo Testamento are doing their damnest to create that reality here. What is Italo? You see, when disco died here in the US in the 70s it continued on in Europe, taking hold in Italy and evolving, where it became known as Italo. Music never stops, it takes everything that exists around it and incorporates it into itself, constantly growing, shifting, changing. HI-NRG (think 80s Dead or Alive) exists because disco crawled, Italo walked, and Hi-NRG ran with it. But Nuovo Testamento saw how awesome Italo was and decided to bring it back, and for that, I thank them. For me, a fan of all of the above, this is wonderfully delicious. If synths and dancing make you happy, but you want something a little more like disco than Depeche Mode, New Order, or the Pet Shop Boys, well, this, my friend, is for you. I love it! Enjoy! New Earth by NUOVO TESTAM...

Imagine, if you will, if Nine Inch Nail "Closer" and TR/ST "Colossal" were somehow able to have propogage and have a child, because if that were possible, it's very likely that child would be Mareux "Gopnik." I mean, let's face it, who is he fooling with that opening beat that sounds exactly  like the opening of "Closer?" Then SURPRISE! at about 18-19 seconds in he drops some eerie synths to let you know that this is not the song that you thought it was. But you know what, fuck it, it's all good, because this song is the perfect amount of slithering darkness that I love so very much. I've listened to it several times already today, leaving it on repeat as I write this up. Why? Because it's fucking good . Open yourself up to the idea of new music. Every once it will surprise and delight you in the most wonderful ways. Happy Monday! Enjoy! Predestiny EP by Mareux

As you may already know, last week was Bandcamp Friday . I love Bandcamp Friday and make an effort to purchase music each time they occur, and mostly I do (though last month I confess I was perusing music late at night and fell asleep, waking up after 3:00 AM Eastern, meaning I had missed it; oops!). I'm not exactly sure where I found the article but I stumbled across that about Dean Garcia, one of the founders of Curve, a personal favorite of mine (who I recently highlighted ). Said piece mentioned Curve, of course, the band he is most known for, as well as SPC ECO , which I have known about for years. I was surprised to find that he had many other side projects as well, which is how I discovered Blurred City Lights. I immediately found the Bandcamp page for the group and found their more recent album from last month. I hit play and immediately was welcomed to the nefarious sounds of a darker, more aggressive form of shoegaze that I did not know that I needed in my life. I once sa...

What is Bandcamp Friday, you may ask? All you need to know is right  here . It's always good to support independent artists and independent music, especially when Bandcamp is foregoing their cut for 24 hours. Here's what I bought back in March ! Buy something cool!

What is Bandcamp Friday, you may ask? All you need to know is right  here . It's always good to support independent artists and independent music, especially when Bandcamp is foregoing their cut for 24 hours. Buy something cool!

As I said when I posted about Front 242 , after just over a year of starting this blog I can't believe that it took me this long to post about one of my all-time favorite bands, Curve. Like, seriously, what is wrong with me? Again, I am rectifying it now. There are times in your life as a music lover that you hear a band, a song, that first time, and your immediate thought is,"WOW! What is this? Why haven't I heard this before?" This has happened to me many times, whether it be Nirvana, Atari Teenage Riot, Front 242, or, in this case, Curve. For me, the best way to describe this music is LUSH (ironic, considering that such is the name of one of their shoegaze peers), but for me this song, with Toni Halliday's melodic chanting/harmonizing and Dean Garcia's thick, syrupy bass line, covers me like a thick, velvet blanket on a cold winter's day. If Heaven was a song, I think it would "Horror Head," which, again, ironic considering the title and lyric...

While I was on PTO last week my friend Jeff, the same guy that suggested the band Chalk to me back in February , asked me if I had ever heard of the ground Paranoid London. I hadn't, and told him I would check them out. Last Thursday and Friday were busy with vacationing, so I finally had a chance to check them out this weekend, starting with track one of their album Arseholes, Liars, and Electronic Pioneers . My first impression was that this was some chill, electronic music that might be a slow burn for me. Mind you, that was after playing the first track. Then the second track, "Love One Self," came on and I was immediately blown away. Is this acid house? It is Nitzer Ebb? Front 242? No, it was none of these, but also, kind of all of these things, and my audio heart swooned. This is what I sent to Jeff: First song, ok, this is chill, I can throw it on in the background. Second song: FUCK YES. I had pretty much the same reaction to all of the following tracks. Me being ...

Though not an offical theme, I have been in a synth mood the last few posts, so far be it for me to deviate from that. Today, I give Empathy Test "Doubts," which just speaks to everything I like about good synthpop: it's catchy, it's singable, and yeah, it's dark. there is no substitute for love no feeling tell me when you've had enough It's because of songs like this that I had to put a disclaimer on my Facebook page so that when I posted lyrics/music people wouldn't think I was in the middle of a deep depression. Quite the opposite, actually. Music like this makes me feel happy and alive. And that's how Monday should be. If you're celebrating Labor Day today, I hope you're having a good time! Enjoy! Monsters by Empathy Test

While I often try to write these posts up ahead of time, there are some mornings I wake up and think, "what am I going to post today?" despite the fact that I easily have a 10-12 drafts of artists/songs in my queue but for whatever reason they don't fit my vibe check today. I'm weird, I know. The funny thing is that I woke up with song a repeating in my head, so as I came to post today again I thought to myself, "what am I going to post today?" and initially did not consider the track playing on repeat in my brain. Sometimes I am not a smart man. But isn't an earworm a track that is fire, one that you can't stop listening to, or more to the point, thinking about? That's "Spiders" by Sweden's Ashbury Heights. Again, this is not a new song, it's nearby 20 years old, but it's infectious and I can't stop chair dancing. (Also, what is it with me suddenly falling in love with Swedish synthpop lately?) Welcome to the end of the...

What is Bandcamp Friday, you may ask? All you need to know is right  here . It's always good to support independent artists and independent music, especially when Bandcamp is foregoing their cut for 24 hours. Here's what I bought back in February ! Buy something cool!

I've noted previously that I have a lot of music, perhaps too much, and that yeah, sometimes when I think I have discovered a band, oops, I already bought something from them months, or years, earlier. This isn't quite that case, but rather, I have so much music that I sometimes I lose track of an artist that I truly love ( like Missio ) because, well, life happens, work happens, and I get behind. That's what happened here with Purity Ring. For me, their 2015 album another eternity  is perfection, an album I had on repeat for what seemed like forever. They got popular, Katy Perry asked her to work with her on one of her albums, and then asked them to tour with her (I went thanks to a $25 Groupon), and then, sometime after 2017, nine years ago now, well, I think I just kind of lost track of them. I remember WOMB  and watching them perform on a late night talkshow, but again, this is on me and does not reflect on the quality of the band or their music, I just kind of lost tou...

What is Bandcamp Friday, you may ask? All you need to know is right  here . It's always good to support independent artists and independent music, especially when Bandcamp is foregoing their cut for 24 hours. Buy something cool!

This is a recent discovery, but it fits with my unintended theme this week of synth-based music (other than, you know, the celebrities we lost). Also, I've been listening to it non-stop for the better part of the last day, but that's how my obsessions work. A couple listens? Sure, it's a good track. Almost constant repeat over the last 18 hours? Yeah, that has to go on the blog. I've already added this to my Bandcamp wishlish and will most likely be buying this track, if not the entire album, next week during Bandcamp Friday. I don't claim to be goth, but I am certainly goth adjacent in many of my interests, and that electric, throbbing synth line send chills up my spine, as a good post-punk track should. What can I say, this track is fire! Welcome to Friday, you've made it through the week! Enjoy! Matter of Choice by Cold Showers

"Wait, didn't you just highlight Priest just five weeks ago ?" In fact, I did, and typically I would wait awhile before noting them again, but as fate would have it, Priest released the new single, "Python," for their forthcoming album Altered State Police  and holy shit, is it good! How do I know?  Because I am listening to it now, I listening to it earlier today, and according to Last.FM, I have listened to it several times since it was released on Friday. Obsess much?  Yes, I do, especially when a track is this good. So, yeah, I highlighted Priest back in July, and that song is very good as well, but they went ahead and released another fantastic song that I can't stop listening to daily. That's the very definition of fire! Happy Monday! Enjoy!

I first posted about Wargasm just over a year ago when I discovered them during a Bandcamp Friday and was only familiar with a few tracks of theirs. I saw in Intagram that they were touring wiht Scene Queen this year and were coming to my town, which I mentioned the other day . While I loved "Vigilantes," I wasn't sure if I wanted to see them as just an opening act, so I went to go listen to them some more and found that they released Live In London 2025  earlier this year. I threw it on and just let it play. And then I listened again. And again. Some bands put out bangers, no question, but some bands simply must be experienced live, or in this case, at least listened to live. I quickly went from "they might be fun to see" to "holy shit, I need  to see Wargasm!" Honestly, this album is 100% no skips for me, but I keep coming back to "Modern Love" over and over (why yes, I do obsess sometimes). Now that I have tickets to see them with Scene ...

I first heard of Scene Queen a few years back and her metal licks + pop hooks appealed to me much the same way that early BABYMETAL did.  I am not the biggest metal fan, but if it's catchy (like System of a Down, or at times, Korn) I am all about it. And this? This is fucking catchy while also being abrasive. That's my sweet spot. So, if you like your metal with phat beats and electronic boops & beeps with a tongue-in-cheek, sardonic feminist bent, then Scene Queen is for you! When I heard she was coming to Grand Rapids in October I hemmed and hawed about going to go see her as I knew she was defintely something my partner would enjoy, but on a whim I texted a fellow concert buddy and he was all in. And now we have tickets! Can't wait! Enjoy! Hot Singles In Your Area by Scene Queen

What is Bandcamp Friday, you may ask? All you need to know is right  here . It's always good to support independent artists and independent music, especially when Bandcamp is foregoing their cut for 24 hours. Here's what I bought back in February ! Buy something cool!

I know I posted another EBM tune on Monday , but sometimes that's just my mood (when I'm not obsessing over Joey Valence and Brae , that is). What do I know about the artist "i'm loam?" Nothing, other than this short track is a banger that I keep listening to and wiggling/dancing in my chair as I do so. A coworker/friend sent it along a few weeks ago, and yeah, I love it, it's fire. That's it. It makes you want to dance and it's really fucking good. I'll definitely be grabbing this during Bandcamp Friday this week. 'Nuff said! Enjoy! I'm loam - stay here don't go by CLUBR

What is Bandcamp Friday, you may ask? All you need to know is right  here . It's always good to support independent artists and independent music, especially when Bandcamp is foregoing their cut for 24 hours. Buy something cool!

I discovered Ninajirasha sometime last year and was immediately blown away at the new-yet-old-school-sounding techno she was dropping. Porter Robinson, if you're not familiar, is a bit of an icon in the EDM world (and also, my stepson's favorite artists), so seeing the established working with the up-and-coming is always fun. This is especially true when their collaboration brings forth a track as good as this, but I may be biased by my love for both artists. It's Monday, start your week strong! Enjoy! WannaCry by Ninajirachi & Porter Robinson