This Track Is Fire!

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...

Note: this week, in honor of the legendary Steve Albini's birthday, I am highlighting his impressive audio engineering work (he refused to be called a "producer"). These five posts are a small example of his musical prowess, selected by me, just a fan with a blog. And here we are folks, the final post in this series. I intentionally did not lead with this track at the beginning of the week as it's too obvious. In fact, I struggled with including it at all, because of that very fact, but at the end of the day this song was mind-blowing to when it came out during my sophomore year of college and listening again today, or any day, I am reminded of how colossally talented Kurt, Krist, Dave, and yes, Steve were. Certainly this could be argued to be Albini's most high-profile work, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. Yes, Albini worked with artists large, small, and absolutely massive (like Nirvana), but as I said at the beginning of this week, he was f...

Note: this week, in honor of the legendary Steve Albini's birthday, I am highlighting his impressive audio engineering work (he refused to be called a "producer"). These five posts are a small example of his musical prowess, selected by me, just a fan with a blog. And here it is, Steve Albini's birthday. He would have been 64 today. I know he was a member of a few different bands, and maybe one could argue that Big Black was culturally and musically more important, but I tend to lean towards things that hit me more viscerally. It's why I prefer Beethoven to Mozart. And this song, I get it. Do I ever actually want to see someone die because they had the audacity to be with someone I once cared about? No. But I get the feeling  of this song, that urge to kill that one (hopefully) never actually acts on. Not that the narrator of this song is contemplating murder, he just wants to see the other guy die, and painfully. Perhaps those are things that people shouldn'...

In late January my friend Jeff sent me a link to an Instagram post from KEXP and the band Chalk  and since then I have posted here about them twice, so three times in two months is probably a bit much. And yet, here we are. Chalk are playing a handful of US dates before jetting off to Europe, so after much hemming and hawing I decided to grab tickets for their Chicago show (I knew I wanted to go, but I had to make sure I had someone to go with). I mean, listen to "I Can't Feel It" and tell me it doesn't tickle your synthpop pleasure centers (if you have them; I do!). Their entire debut album is great, but I've gone back to this track more than a few times now. Enjoy!

Thanks to the Instagram algorithm I was fed Prostitute a few days ago, who will soon see their debut album released around the world on Mute records March 13. This is not a comfortable or easy listen, similar in that aspect to Death Grips, though Prostitute unleashes their rhythmic cacaphony through the medium of noise rock. Hailing from Dearborn, Michigan with Lebanese, Polish, Roma, and Maltese members, their music is an unrelenting assault on the ears. Prostitute may not be for everyone, but if you give it a chance you'll be rewarded with a unique musical experience. Enjoy! Attempted Martyr by Prostitute

It's only been two weeks since I first posted about Chalk, so I probably should give it more time before I post about them again. The thing is, since first posting about "I.D.C." I have since purchased their three EPs and have become properly obsessed. There's not a bad song in the lot, but of particular appeal to me of late is the track "Afraid." A song like this make me want to turn it up loud and drive fast.  I don't, but I want  to. So, drive fast and listen to Chalk (only don't, because that's dangerous)! Enjoy! Conditions III by Chalk

Last week my friend Jeff sent me a link to an Instagram post from KEXP and the band Chalk thinking I might like their music and boy, he was not  wrong.  I think I was hooked within the first minute, and by the end of the two songs I was full-on obsessed, so much so that I had already started looking for their live dates. I am now debating if I want to go see them in March in Chicago. To say that I was immediately impressed with this band in a very short time is an understatement. Their debut album, Crystalpunk, debuts on March 13, but they've released "I.D.C." as one of its singles. I fucking love it! Enjoy!

This is a young blog, so I am hesitant to highlight a band more than once, but at the same time I want this blog to naturally reflect those songs that I am currently enjoying. So, while I've already linked to multiple songs by Pixel Grip ,  Nine Inch Nails, and Boys Noize already this year, we can add HEALTH to that list now . I think one of the things that I like about HEALTH in particular is that they are so hard to pigeonhole. Are they metal? Are they industrial? Are the electronic? Are they noise rock? The answer is an emphatic YES to all of the above, and more. This is the first single off of their forthcoming album Conflict DLC  and if the entire album is like this I will be a very happy man indeed. I can feel my face melting already, and for me, that's a good thing. Enjoy! CONFLICT DLC by HEALTH

For a guy that predominantly likes synth-pop and dance music, I have to say that HEALTH is one of my favorite musical discoveries of the last five or so years, and this track  is  fire, so there. While I understand that the end of summer is technically the third week of September, just like how Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer, Labor Day is the unofficial end of summer. I'm getting older and the years, and their summers, are coming and going faster and faster each year. I don't like it, so here's some industrial/noise rock/metal whose marching guitars reflect my sour disposition over the fact that I have to say goodbye to summer before I am ready to let it go. This is wonderful, aggressive music that fits my mood today.  Maybe I'll feel better tomorrow, but for now, I want to listen to music like this and break stuff. Have a great weekend! VOL. 4 :: SLAVES OF FEAR by HEALTH