NINE SONGS I LIKED THIS WEEK IN LIST FORM: SEP 1 – SEP 7
Am I a good enough father? Jury's out. I know I try, but not positive about the quality of the effort. Say last night – I was putting the two boys to sleep (2 and 6), and, as I do, I scrolled through my phone while patting the little one, and making sure the older one was OK. I make sure to dim the screen and I usually remember to turn the sound down. There was a thing on Twitter about the ongoing protests over here against the sociopaths in government and I guess I inadvertently pressed the clip while also inadvertently not turning the sound down, and the since the protests had a lot of horns or kazoos or whatever noisemaking device, my phone blared out a sharp tone that could, if you're children were effectively raised in a war zone, resemble the sound of an air-raid siren. They were both almost asleep and jumped up screaming and crying. So, not the best parenting there. Keep safe.
As always, if you're a fan of traumatized children and a scared-wittless father, check out my various interview projects and other cool shit. And if you'd like to keep abreast of the latest, most pressing developments follow us wherever I may roam (FALSE!) (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Spotify and now also a tape-per-day series on TIK TOK!), and listen to my, I guess, active (?) podcast (YouTube, Spotify, Apple), and to check out our amazing compilation albums. You can support my unholy work here (Patreon), if you feel like it. Early access to our bigger projects, weekly exclusive recommendations and playlists, and that wonderful feeling that you're encouraging a life-consuming habit.
1. Djevel – "Bespottelsen," from Natt til ende (Black Metal – Aftermath Music). There are very little bands of this general style that I respect more than Djevel. "Respect" is the word I use since a) the music is always great and b) the black heart is where it should be – making black metal that sounds like a pestilence upon the earth out of the belief that ugly things matter. I realize that's basically the marching orders of every other black metal band on earth, including some very popular ones, but it's rarely done with such vigor and artistry. Djevel for life. FFO: Watain, 90s Darkthrone.
2. Genital Shame – "As Good as a Kiss, Pt. 1," from As Good as a Kiss (Experimental Black Metal – The Garrote). Genital Shame's Chronic Illness Wish was so amazing that I'm still coming to terms with how incredible it was. Artistic, unafraid, and it will rip your soul out if you want it to. Which made me very happy to see a surprise new EP from the Pittsburgh project, and even happier to hear how good it is. I can't say it "builds" on anything, since I'm pretty sure Genital Shame don't think in those terms. It's another branch in an endlessly fascinating tree. FFO: Scarcity, Liturgy.
3. Sentiero Dei Principi – " A Lilac Apple Full of Pills," from A Lilac Apple Full of Pills (Black Metal -Esercito Della Chiesa Dorata). The enigmatic Italian black metal/dungeon synth projects is back with it's first release in a while, and it's weirder than ever. Music that sounds like it was made by instrument-equipped insects with no sound proofing. So, yeah. Great. FFO: Baazlvaat, Old Nick.
4. Marcus Fjellström – "Last Morning Watch VII," from The Last Sunset of the Year (Ambient/Neo Classical – Mishmah Recordings). And, from the worst-sounding music on earth to the best-sound music on earth. Being the dumb person that I am I have never heard of the great and apparently late Marcus Fjellström, but am both sad and happy to be striking into his world now. The sounds are so soul-enveloping and crushing that I want to live inside this record and forget. Forget the loves I've had, forget my kids, forget my body, forget my house, forget my job. For a moment find release in some weird and beautiful sounds for long enough to forget I ever existed and then zoom back to life because I have responsibilities and shit like that. But that's OK. If I want to be reminded about the pain of life, I can always put on the album immediately following this blurb.
5. Pyrrhon – "Concrete Charlie," from Exhaust (Experimental Brutal Super Weird Death Metal I Think – Willowtip Records). So, that's life (see above). Life is a Pyrrhon album – how fucking horrible is that? Not "horrible" as in "bad" but as in "very bad." The gang is back with a sorta-surprise album, sorta since they've been telegraphing it's arrival for some time now, filled with horrid experiences and questionable emotional reactions to said experiences. What more can a man ask for? Well, he can ask for safety and the possibility to leading a normal enough life so that anxiety isn't the literal air you breathe, but in the absence of that Pyrrhon will do. FFO: Suffocating.
6. Patricia Brennan Septet – "Palo de Oros (Suit of Coins)," from Breaking Stretch (Experimental Jazz – Pyroclastic Records). Again, me venturing into a world made of weird sounds of which I know nothing just because it feels like it's fixing something that needs fixing instead of yelling at broken things. Which is funny, because if I gave that description to my wife and then played her this she would probably kill herself in a minute. So, one person's idea of relaxing isn't the other's, we get it. And yet thank you Ms. Septet (I made a funny) for helping instead of stabbing. FFO: Someone cutting up a movie so that it doesn't make sense anymore.
7. Orphan Parapet – "Time Lapse of Wet Fire," from Time Lapse of Wet Fire (Ambient/Experimental – Independent). Yes! Colin Martson making even more ambient music that allows me to filter out the outside noise of being an adult who is either sure he is about to die or is afraid his kids are or at least is worried about their anxiety and his just for a moment! This time Mr. Martson is collaborating with Nick Podgurski who also seems amazing and who played in one of my fave bands ever (Extra Life). Together they make me both escape my pain and wallow in it in the worst fucking way. Awesome. Also, the word "parapet" always makes me think of Isaac Rosenberg, who was one of the greatest poets ever. Look him up. Wow. So cultured.
8. Phenocryst – "Embers of an Ancient Fire," from Cremation Pyre (Death Metal – Blood Harvest Records). Just before my metal card gets revoked (just kidding, they never gave me one!) here's some good ole fashioned death metal banging (not sure what that means) by way of the debut album from Portuguese mother munchers Phenocryst. Riffy, throaty shit that makes you feel like you're body has freshly exuded a denim vest. Rockin'.
9. Sur Austru – "Imparecherea," from Datura Străhiarelor (Folk Black Metal – Avantgarde Music). Your favorite Romanian band that isn't Negură Bunget but kind of is Negură Bunget is back to cast spells on your grandma and cook up your cat in an unsanitary wooden shed. Fans of avant-gard-ish black metal that also enjoy campfieres and hating on vegans (just guessing here) would fucking eat this shit up on a spit of a fire in the Carpathians. FFO: Ahhhh….. Negură Bunget.
FIVE MORE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
ONE: Nope.
TWO: Not going to do it.
THREE: No.
FOUR: My son also fell in school (he just started his first year) and ran weeping with bloody face to his older sister who was worried sick for him and they both got the school to call us and I can't look at him for the pain and am sick for her being so worried and having to be so responsible and yet he's been chilling in front of an idiot on YouTube that plays Minecraft badly, so I guess all is well.
FIVE: No.
ONE LAST THING, PROMISE: NOPE.
