Music for 10/17/22!!! Gilla Band, Lucrecia Dalt

@@@ Gilla Band: Post Ryan (Rough Trade, 2022) A couple of listens off this week’s 10 most reviewed albums at Pitchfork email. The video below is the last track on the album and it opens up with a big wedge of hum/static and noise. Then a classic rock beat, then a No Wave singer, and then a slowdown. The drop away to just some sound in the chorus is pretty unexpected. I like the arrangement, the singer less so, but the arrangement is fresh. Lemme peep another track. Oh Lord they bring in a psycho electric guitar strum and I feel that. I switched over to the opening track, it’s the starred one on Apple Music and it looks set to be another industrial noise/rock mashup. All right-y then I’m on the third track I’ve listened to and I maintain my previous opinion.

@@@ Lucrecia Dalt: Dicen (RVNG, 2022) This is my kind of shit, where an artist takes some abstract electronic music and smashes it into traditional forms, in this case Central and South American dance forms such as the bolero and the tango. I really like albums like this that sorta bath you in all manner of sounds but not all boozhy and high end just for folks with jobs. This is a rare record that can work for both normies and freaks like me. Interesting normies, not you bologna and wonderbread motherfuckers. To conclude, check this out, there’s creativity here, great sounds, freshness, you know everything you would want in a felafel sandwich.

Music for 4/30/22!!! Man a Monster, 1300

@@@ Man a Monster: Warm Blooded Creatures (Self released, 2022) I got to today’s listens via music publicist emails. The first is a noise rock outfit and the one below is a Korean hip hop collective. Marketed as a noise rock thing it’s just a fuzzy rock sound, the noise is quite controlled and restricted to the vocals. It’s got a song structure and even strings so the music publicist here is on the pipe. It’s really a pretty egregious wave of the hand as the strings get louder in the mix and it’s a totally composed song from a former Modern English frontman. The song is all right, I don’t think I ever really bought into it, partially because of the way it was described to me.

@@@ 1300: Oldboy (Warner Music Australia, 2022) It’s interesting to hear how a different language creates such a different listening experience in hip hop. The rhymes here are a mix of English and Korean and the rhymes in Korean sound sharp and tough while the English ones a bit less. The sounds are pretty standard trap but with a layer of more playful percussion that changes the vibe bigly. Multiple MCs, a bit of glitch sauce, big basses some with dancefloor flavors. I would say it’s mostly party with a bit of machismo/darkness thrown in. I like the extra percussion and arpeggiator up in this. Better than I expected.

Music for 6/23/21!!! Chris Corsano and Bill Orcutt, Divide and Dissolve, Gojira

@@@ Chris Corsano & Bill Orcutt: Man Carrying Thing (Pallila, 2021) This is a guitar and drums improvisation record that traffics heavily in rock tones. Not cheesy rock tones mind you. It’s not a noodly jazz guitar tone and I’m very grateful for that, there’s plenty of bluster and noise to be had here. I’m hearing mostly two tracks of guitars on each tune and from what I read this is a Covid record where one musician overdubbed what another one sent to him. Without getting too simplistic one guitar seems (though not always) to set a foundation for some melodic playing. It makes it feel more like a band without a bass player and two guitar player. It sounds to me like the record leans towards more towards circular motifs and ambient playing over the idea of epic Sonny Sharrock type rock-jazz melodies. Excellent tones on both the drums and guitars, check this out if you like noise, improvised energy etc.

@@@ Divide and Dissolve: Denial (Invada UK, 2021) Another record off the Guardian’s best of 2021 thus far list. This is a dark banger off a record with some really disillusioned and slack titles — denial, prove it, do i have to do something with it, we are really worried about you. This track intros with a horror movie type setup before going full frog stomp. Oh my, this is staticky, and crunchy and delicious. I’m not going to lie, I would like to hear more from a 7 minute banger — a guitar solo, a bassline, the sound of two dogs fornicating in an abandoned parking lot. I love the sounds and the darkness and I guess I’m a bitch for wanting it to be a bit more fleshed out.

@@@ Gojira: Fortitude (Roadrunner, 2021) I believe this is the last listen off the Guardian’s halfway through the year best of list. For those not into the metal scene and shit Gojira is a French prog metal outfit and this record is about climate change I think. Actually the Apple Music has them saying it’s about environmental awareness and civil disobedience. The track below is a 2 minute dirge with a stringy bass sound and some chanting. I’m checking out the second track Amazonia and it’s a rocker with some impressive kick drumming, riffage and maybe a jew’s harp. This is more uplifting hard rock than melted gloomy shit. I don’t have a preference I’m just describing. These guys are clearly a veteran band and the level of playing here is very high. I like it all right, it doesn’t charge me the way a well balanced ball of fury does, it’s a tad on the epic side for my taste. Amazingly clean and manicured sound which I appreciate technically without loving the effect of it.

Music for 6/15/21!!! Elissa Mielke, Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, The Body

@@@ Elissa Mielke: Kind of Thing (slashie/Mom and Pop, 2021) Via Pitchfork on the Twatter! Take a trip back in time to the faded rock of the mid t late ’70s, this tune driven by a piano but very similar melodies and feels. I’m not sure that the addition of more voices is gonna make it better for me. This is for fake sophisticated people with high paying jobs who drink red wine in big glasses. You’re the kind of thing I used to sing about, that’s the vocal hook. Isn’t she singing about that kind of thing right now? Oy, very circular.

@@@ Nick Cave and Warren Ellis: Carnage (AWAL, 2021) Off this week’s Guardian list of best recordings of 2021. The New York Times has the worst music coverage of all but the Guardian is not opposed to pushing up biscuits. This is a continuation of Nick Cave’s somber, wise, post junkie deity flow that began a few years ago. I love aspects of this period, most notably the synth sounds and (guitar also on this track?) — they pulsate as if almost alive. As the tune continues, there is more electro garnish and then a string arrangement. Maybe if there were different lyrics and different arrangements it wouldn’t feel so overwrought. I understand that Nick Cave is one of the few artists to make hay on the contemplative sadness aesthetic but I could use a bit more variety and a little less drama. More distortion, some anger swirled in there. I’m suspicious of those folks who talk about the epic unfairness and cruelty of life without a trace of anger. What the fuck? Fuck off!

@@@ The Body: Eschatological Imperative (Thrill Jockey, 2021) Blurbed as experimental heavy music this track at least at the beginning feels like somebody hit the smash button on the compressors and just splatted all the sounds. Which I’m not opposed to! It’s driven by a simple, almost caveman drumbeat and layered over that are these epic doomy bass and guitar sounds, or a combination thereof. It’s like the White Stripes dry humped a doom metal band. Let me peep a couple of tracks and see if the rhythms are more exciting. As far as I’m concerned if you’re going to have a duo both folks have to be hittin’ it hotter than two rats fucking in a wool sock. I’m on the second track ‘Tied Up and Locked In’ and it’s the same formula — delicious distortion and caveman drumming. I just want more chaos from the drummer to match the chaos of the other dude. Is that too much to ask?

Music for 6/19/20!!! H.E.R., Deathnoisefrequency, Philip Michael Scales, Kush Jones

@@@ H.E.R.: I Can’t Breathe (RCA/Sony, 2020)  I saw this protest song mentioned on the Root’s daily email.  It’s a slow jam heavy on beats and retro soul drama.  The hand drumming reminds me of classic Marvin Gaye and Curtis Mayfield.  The string arrangement in the chorus is super stylish — there are some really pretty flourishes here without the tune collapsing into over drama.  H.E.R.’s rolling delivery that doesn’t pause adds a subtle urgency to the track.  This is really well done — the lyrics focus on recent events.  There is a raw ass mostly spoken word/a little rapped section that really ups the impact of the track.  Ignorant, privileged eyes, no you didn’t say that ’bout white folks!!  Yes she did.  Excellent job in not holding back on the sentiment — no dilution and the anger combined with the sounds is very powerful.

@@@  Deathnoisefrequency: Chapter III: The Mortician’s Lamenting Dirge ( 2020)  I saw this noise duo from Saudi Arabia mentioned on an indie blog called Indiepulse.  I can only imagine how fertile the parched fascist earth of Saudi Arabia is for resistance/noisy fuck you types of music.  There is quite a bit of censorship in Saudi Arabia so it might even be dangerous to make this kind of music there.  BTW, fuck that MBS bitch ass who runs Saudi Arabia.  This comes out with a collection of noisy ass sounds layered — banging power chords, some exhaling voice sounds, cycling feedback and a generally dark and aggro feel.  Here’s a singer, old school and spoken word-y, he’s got a bit of the dark wizard Lord of the Rings incantation shit to him.  It spends most of its time chugging along as an old school Sabbath/Danzig flavored thing.  He changes it up and outright sings more after he comes in.  The drummer is sporting a hard rock sound and playing approach.  It’s pleasantly retro but I was hoping for a more distinctly noisy show.

@@@  Philip Michael Scales: Find a Way (The Company You Keep, 2020) I got to this track via a music publicist in the Midwest.  It’s a retro soul/rock sound with a firm beat, active hi hats and sweet singing over at least two guitar tracks.  Apple Music has this as indie pop which isn’t really correct, it’s soul rock.  I like Scales’ voice and the lyrics focus on overcoming personal internal adversity and finding a way forward.  His voice is my favorite component of the tune and I could have used some more varied drumming.

@@@ Kush Jones: Earth Note (Future Times, 2020)  Saw this techno artist namechecked on the Twatter!  Me love the Twatter.  Stuck with GooglePimp!  It’s a classic techno dancefloor banger but with world music flavors in additional to classic techno unt-sss.  A lot of layers of simple rhythms here — splashing hats, four on the floor, the stop and go bass with synth puffs and string patches.  You get a nice, pretty epic keyboard solo and the energy here is firm and fresh.  High quality sounds professionally put together.

YTD recordings listened to: 464
Good music, not list worthy: 236
Not good music: 205

Best: 0
Honorable Mentions: 0

Possibles: Retox, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, Slidhr, The Chewers, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, The Coral, T.O.M.B., Lozen, Erase Errata, Mastery, Hartley C. White, Weed, Cold Water, Luther Dickinson, Graeme Barrett, Fast Asleep, Goldlink, Cavanaugh, Satoko Fuji, Moken, Juan Atkins, Lantern, Twin Peaks, Djelimady Tounkara, The Oh Sees, Denny Zeitlin, MILF, Unfun, De La Soul, Carl Sagan’s Skate Shoes, Noname, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, Oddisee, RAM, Fiver, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Criolo, Billy Strings, Flowers of Sulphur, Portal, Lawaii, Etran De L’Air, Ruby Karinto, Elysia Crampton, Parquet Courts, Moskus, Kendl Winter, Tkay Maidza, Barro, Daniel Khan, Tallawit Timbouctou, Sumac, Tropical Fuck Storm, Harriet Tubman, Ammar 808, Anais Maviel, Chaka Khan, Pom Poko, Fried Egg, Tarek Atoui, Saicobab, General Purv, Shipping News, Big Thief, Mariachi El Bronx, Pour Me a Grog, Sudan Archives, Lakou Mizik, Moodymann, Pharmakon, Alefa Madagascar, Janjao, Luge, Wiki, Mick Jenkins, Jeremiah Jae, Fera, Gambian Griot Kora Duets, Drama, Beatrice Dillon, Mass Worship, mmmonika, Les Deuxluxes, Tony Allen, Fra Fra, Nihiloxica, Hailu Mergia, Pokey LaFarge, Nico Gomez, Nohe and Sus Santos, schroothoop, Tiny Bit of Giant’s Blood, Pole

Music for 12/26/19!!! Priests, Pharmakon

@@@ Priests: Seduction of Kansas (Sister Polygon, 2019) #81 on Vice’s best of 2019 and it’s a blend of rock, punk, a little indie dancefloor, and a little ’80 angular Devo style business.  I don’t understand why the worst rock sounds of the ’80s have been recycled while hardcore and freak punk has not been resurrected.  These questions are above my pay grade but I’m not a huge fan of these sounds and while I’m sure the female singer is a decent human I’m not feeling her microphone stylings.

@@@ Pharmakon: Devour (Sacred Bones, 2019)  Some dark ass industrial that sits at #77 on Vice’s top 100 of 2019.  The unique addition to the cruncy, incessant machine sounds is the processed and fucked up vocals the singer, Pharmakon herself injects into the proceedings.  I dig the fucked-up-edness of this first track.  The second tune, Spit it Out has more of a swampy and metal feel to it.  It’s a 7 minute banger so I’m betting it’s going to unfold a tad on the slow side but that’s fine as I dig the sounds.  At about 1:40 it goes threedly and high frequency aggro.  I’m in the middle of the third tune and while it’s a bit of a one tone situation I do dig the unique sonic darkness presented here.

YTD recordings listened to: 667
Good music, not list worthy: 404
Not good music: 222

Best: 8
Honorable Mentions: 15

Possibles: Retox, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, Slidhr, The Chewers, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, The Coral, T.O.M.B., Lozen, Erase Errata, Mastery, Hartley C. White, Weed, Cold Water, Luther Dickinson, Graeme Barrett, Fast Asleep, Goldlink, Cavanaugh, Satoko Fuji, Moken, Juan Atkins, Lantern, Twin Peaks, Djelimady Tounkara, The Oh Sees, Denny Zeitlin, MILF, Unfun, De La Soul, Carl Sagan’s Skate Shoes, Noname, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, Oddisee, RAM, Fiver, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Criolo, Billy Strings, Flowers of Sulphur, Portal, Lawaii, Etran De L’Air, Ruby Karinto, Elysia Crampton, Parquet Courts, Moskus, Kendl Winter, Tkay Maidza, Barro, Daniel Khan, Tallawit Timbouctou, Sumac, Tropical Fuck Storm, Harriet Tubman, Ammar 808, Anais Maviel, Chaka Khan, Pom Poko, Fried Egg, Tarek Atoui, Saicobab, General Purv, Shipping News, Big Thief, Mariachi El Bronx, Pour Me a Grog, Sudan Archives, Lakou Mizik, Moodymann, Pharmakon

Music for 3/7/19!!! Nonconnah, The Royal Arctic Institute, Khalid

@@@ Nonconnah: Path of Totality/Rapture Drugs (Earnest Jennings, 2019)  Some noise rock out of BBQ capital Memphis Tennessee.  It’s noisy with some screaming type sounds and what appears to be a lot of guitar distortion or some other sound broken down into a guitar like sound.  The screaming is sorta ecstatic which lends a trippy yet happy feel to it.  No drums, just rolling rolling distortion.  It’s got pop song length but it’s not a pop song.

@@@ The Royal Arctic Institute: The Lark Mirror (Rhyme and reason, 2019)  I got to this track and the one above from music publicist emails as I’m out of town travelling and I’m not in the mood to scour far and wide.  This is chimey indie but with a fiddle player and thus far it’s instrumental.  It’s purdy and melodic and it’s also pretty straightforward.  Not in a bad way just not mussing their own hair or anybody else’s.

@@@ Khalid: My Bad (RCA, 2019)  A pre-release single that occupies #1 track at Apple Music.  It’s a r&b number with a couple of guitars and a lot of vocal tracks.  I like the beats, I don’t feel one  way of another about the lyrics but the track feels cluttered.  His singing is not full loverboy but it’s a bit dense to my ears and I can’t really tell what he’s got going on lyrically.  Not a #1 track in my world.

YTD recordings listened to: 128
Good music, not list worthy: 76
Not good music: 47

Best: 0
Honorable Mentions: 0

Possibles: Retox, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, Slidhr, The Chewers, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, The Coral, T.O.M.B., Lozen, Erase Errata, Mastery, Hartley C. White, Weed, Cold Water, Luther Dickinson, Graeme Barrett, Fast Asleep, Goldlink, Cavanaugh, Satoko Fuji, Moken, Juan Atkins, Lantern, Twin Peaks, Djelimady Tounkara, The Oh Sees, Denny Zeitlin, MILF, Unfun, De La Soul, Carl Sagan’s Skate Shoes, A Tribe Called Quest, Noname, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, Oddisee, RAM, Fiver, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Converge, Criolo, Billy Strings, Flowers of Sulphur, Portal, Lawaii, Etran De L’Air, Ruby Karinto, Elysia Crampton, Parquet Courts, Moskus, Kendl Winter, Tkay Maidza, Barro, Daniel Khan, Tallawit Timbouctou, Sumac, Tropical Fuck Storm, Harriet Tubman, Ammar 808, Anais Maviel, Chaka Khan, Pom Poko

Music for 12/12/18!!! Mammoth Grinder, Primal Rite, Sumac

@@@ Mammoth Grinder: Cosmic Crypt (Relapse, 2018)  I haven’t heard a ton of metal this year that made me jump up and down but I snagged a few choices off a year end list at the AV club and this one led by the drummer for Power Trip looks engaging.  It’s got a nice friendly mosh flavor to it.  Just your meat and potatoes smackdown.  It doesn’t have the same energy as Power Trip’s 2017 release which I really liked but it’s solid.  It’s got a couple of the dudes from Iron Reagan whose name I like but about whom I know little.

 

@@@ Primal Rite: Dirge of Escapism (Revelation, 2018)  This recording has a bit of a different feel to it than the Mammoth Grinder one above.  That band name is very accurately chosen and this first tune is a bit math-y with a nice muscular stomp and some punk flavorings.  The singer’s voice is fucked with and he sounds like he’s inside a big concrete tube and barely understandable.  By the third tune Antivenom the water is at a full boil and the thrashing and grinding about is quite intense.  I’m not feeling like this is best of 2018 for my list but it’s got a lot going for it.

 

@@@ Sumac: Love in Shadow (Thrill Jockey, 2018) Marketed as a largely improvised metal record there are four long ass pieces three of which clock in at over 15 minutes.  I’m listening to the second tune right now and it is a noisy and energetic guitar record without being a full metal meltdown kinda record.  The focus here is on playing as one would expect with 15 minute pieces.  I like how it’s not a sloppy record by any means but it’s looser than most metal records.  It is a big metal jam record.  I like the sound of it and I will circle back on it when I have closer to 1 hour and 6 minutes.

YTD recordings listened to: 684
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 371
Not good music: 265

Best: 16
Honorable Mentions: 8

Possibles: Retox, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, Slidhr, The Chewers, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, The Coral, T.O.M.B., Lozen, Erase Errata, Mastery, Hartley C. White, Weed, Cold Water, Janelle Monae, Luther Dickinson, Graeme Barrett, Fast Asleep, Goldlink, Cavanaugh, Satoko Fuji, Moken, Juan Atkins, Lantern, Twin Peaks, Djelimady Tounkara, The Oh Sees, Denny Zeitlin, MILF, Unfun, De La Soul, Carl Sagan’s Skate Shoes, A Tribe Called Quest, Noname, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, Oddisee, RAM, Fiver, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Converge, Criolo, Billy Strings, Flowers of Sulphur, Portal, Lawaii, Etran De L’Air, Ruby Karinto, Elysia Crampton, Parquet Courts, Moskus, Kendl Winter, Tkay Maidza, Barro, Daniel Khan, Tallawit Timbouctou, Sumac

Music for 7/17/18!!! Luluc, Body/Head, Bjorn Toske

@@@ Luluc: Sculptor (Sub Pop, 2018) Indie folk off this week’s All Music notable release email.  This first tune is part ’70s hippie, a schmear of soft rock, a little James Taylor and big Beach Boys multi-tracked vocal production.  It’s a male/female vocal team and they have the schtick down.  There is both piano and organ as well as the acoustic guitars you would expect so it’s a full space child ensemble.  I don’t like the second tune as much.  It’s clipped below but I would recommend the first tune more and I’m enjoying this less the more I hear.  Okay I’m not lazy fuck I went and got the first tune from the GooglePimp — it’s all for your listening pleasure.

@@@ Body/Head: The Switch (Matador, 2018). Noise rock off this week’s All Music notable release email.  I’m hoping for a little punk rock head crushing but it’s hard to come by these days, the kids are too busy on the (f)instagram.  It opens up buzzy and feedback-ish and ominous.  Imma skeered.  It’s an 8 minute track but I would like them to exit this feedback flim flammery and take a swing at the baseball!  Ah female singer, dramatical has mad her entrance.  A few Sonic Youth pubes here but I’m still waiting for some outbreak/explosion, some action goddammit.  Fuck it,  I skipped ahead and I’m trapped in this same buzzy feedback traffic jam.  Red Bull, this shit needs some Red Bull.  Man, my interwebz player glitched out and it was the second track so I’m back to the first one but there is a similar wait all day attitude to the tune.  I wouldn’t go so far to say it’s boring but I wanted more.  Am I being selfish?  Only time will tell.

@@@ Bjorn Toske: Byen (Small Town Supersound, 2018) Left field house off this week’s All Music notable release email.  Left field house, not normal house, weirdo left field.  I don’t know what’s so odd about left field, it just seems like one of the ordinary baseball positions.  The first tune features a sample of a flock of seagulls — I shit you not.  The seagulls tip out and it assumes a quasi ethnic space groove.  It’s all right.  If Phish had a motherload of synthesizers it would sound like this tune.  Long and jammy, not particularly adventurous.  The sounds are very nice and arranged well.  After a synth-y intro the second tune explodes into a tight disco groove with some delayed piano.  I don’t love it.  The third tune is a similar formula with a slow synth and rhythm build.  As I said I don’t love this, it’s all right.  Not enough funk and action for me.

YTD recordings listened to: 413
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 215
Not good music: 184

Best: 7
Honorable Mentions: 4

Possibles: Retox, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, Slidhr, The Chewers, Toxic Holocaust, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, The Coral, T.O.M.B., Lozen, Erase Errata, Mastery, Hartley C. White, Weed, Cold Water, Janelle Monae, Luther Dickinson, Graeme Barrett, Fast Asleep, Goldlink, Cavanaugh, Satoko Fuji, Moken, Juan Atkins, Lantern, Twin Peaks, Djelimady Tounkara, The Oh Sees, Denny Zeitlin, MILF, Unfun, De La Soul, Carl Sagan’s Skate Shoes, A Tribe Called Quest, Noname, Gouge Away, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, Oddisee, Forro in the Dark, RAM, Fiver, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Converge, Open Mike Eagle, Criolo, Billy Strings, Flowers of Sulphur, Tal National, Portal, Hernan Sama & Marcelo von Schultz, Jean Grae and Quelle Chris, Lawaii, Etran De L’Air, Ruby Karinto, Elysia Crampton, Parquet Courts

Music for 2/19/18!!! Djeneba & Fousco, Wave Break, Barren Womb, Candy Ambulance

@@@ Djeneba & Fousco | Kayeba Khasso (Lusafrica, 2017) I can only hear a pre-release single on the Apple Music so I can’t make much of a statement about the record but this tune is pretty sparse with a melancholy vocal melody sung by a man and a woman.  It’s pretty epic with some other stringed instruments but not a drummer.  Oops, I’m an idiot, here’s some hand percussion and they’re singing in a full instrumental environment.  Beautiful singing and sounds, it’s not my favorite style of African music but listen for yourself.  I got to this record via the WRIR weekly playlist email.

@@@ Wave Break: Plaster City (Self-released, 2018)  I’ve been listening from the bottom of this post to the top so this is another female fronted rock band.  This is more an emo kind of vibe to the tune with more pushing by the band and more melody from the singer.  I think the lyrics are meant to be listened to but I’m not doing that.  It’s aspires to be a meaningful tune which is fine but it’s not meaningful to me and check for yourself you might love it.  I got to it via the blog Indiepulse

@@@ Barren Womb: Old Money/New Lows (Spartan, 2018)  A Norwegian noise rock outfit that I got to via the blog Indiepulse.  The first tune has a shouting singer over heavy guitar riffs and thick tom drumming.  I wouldn’t put these guys in the noise rock slot, it’s more of a punk rock musical base with a over caffeinated irritated preacher on the microphone.  If you’re looking for some heavy riffage without the societal disapproval of listening to a metal record these guys will hook you up.

@@@ Candy Ambulance: Spray (Candy Spray, 2018)  A self-released female fronted hard rocking outfit.  The singer sounds like she’s almost about to lose it and it’s done over a lot of rock guitars and a pretty straight rock drummer.  The second tune takes it down a notch and they move easily between rock and more manic punk flavors.  It’s a pretty tight outfit and the first tune is my favorite.  The first tune is clipped below.  I got to this record via a music publicist.

YTD recordings listened to: 94
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 52
Not good music: 39

Best: 1
Honorable Mentions: 2

Possibles: Retox, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, The Ballantynes, Slidhr, The Chewers, Toxic Holocaust, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, Lenguas Largas, The Coral, T.O.M.B., Lozen, Erase Errata, Mastery, Leviathan, Hartley C. White, Weed, Cold Water, Janelle Monae, Luther Dickinson, Graeme Barrett, Fast Asleep, Goldlink, Cavanaugh, Gentleman Surfer, Satoko Fuji, Moken, Juan Atkins, Lantern, Twin Peaks, Djelimady Tounkara, The Oh Sees, Denny Zeitlin, MILF, Unfun, De La Soul, Carl Sagan’s Skate Shoes, Magrudergrind, A Tribe Called Quest, Noname, Gouge Away, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, J.I.D., Oddisee, Forro in the Dark, RAM, Fiver, Dona Onete, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Irreversible Entanglements, Converge, Open Mike Eagle, Criolo, Billy Strings, Guy One