CHEERLEADER EFFECT by CARPENTER BRUT
Look, I am a sucker for Synthwave. I know that lots of Synthwave is objectively shitty and/or lazy, but I cannot help myself. Sometimes you just want fast food. Carpenter Brut is less actually far less shitty and/or lazy than other synthwave projects in the sense that they often take the time to write pop songs with vocals, hooks, and an identifiable structure rather than rote dance floor bangers. Plus, most of their songs are about monsters and killers. How am I supposed to resist this? I am but a man. This song feels very Depeche Mode-y to me, and that's a good feel. I really like Carpenter Brut. I really like this whole album, actually.
EVERYTHING YOU CAN IMAGINE IS REAL by VIOLET COLD
I'm also into Blackgaze, which is the dark alley where shoegaze and black metal come together to hang out, vape, and stare at the wall. You'd only like this sort of thing if you feel like shoegaze could be improved a bit with the addition of blast beats and the substituion of demonic screams for quiet murmuring. That substitution works for me, because screaming never turned me off of a song, and you're generally going to have to read the liner notes to get the lyrics on a shoegaze album anyway. I understand if you, dear friend, do not feel the same. This stuff doesn't always land, but when it does I really like the depressed-but-optimistic vibes. A lot of these songs take you on a journey, and I like that. This song is instrumental, and it feels kind of epic, and I dig the part where the drums do a thing at about 4m in.
LIKE RATS by GODFLESH
I have tried for so long to get into industrial music/industrial metal, and so much of it just sucks. I have been on this journey since about 2003, and I think I've tried just about every industrial-flavored band that ever existed and I usually just get so angry and disappointed. For every one good song, you get ten more that include some combination of shitty rapping, shitty samples, shitty politics, shitty lyrics, shitty pseudo nu-metal chugga chugga guitars, shitty Tool impersonations, or shitty harsh noise breakdowns that nobody actually likes. Maybe you need more than dreadlocks and a personality disorder to do good work within this genre? I guess it's tough to nail, and it just goes to show you how good Nine Inch Nails and Skinny Puppy really are. Well, there's also Godflesh. Godflesh is awesome. This is the other band of Justin Broadrick, who is also the dude who did Jesu. He seems like a very smart and talented fella, and I really like this band a lot. This is the only industrial metal band that never makes me upset, and it just hits all the right spots. This song just feels so relentless and crushingly heavy. It's one of my standby "I don't want to be alive today but I can use my disgust and hatred to empower myself temporarily and I will prevail" songs, and it rarely lets me down. Godflesh rules.
MURDER THEME by HEROIN AND YOUR VEINS
There's a surprising number of dark jazz combos out there who have realized that some people would be into listening to variations on the Twin Peaks soundtrack over and over again. They're right! This is a good song to put on when you are thinking about solving and/or committing a crime. This is nice and dark and it scratches an itch for noir core with lots of weird sax noises. I love weird sax noises. The big drawback on this song for me is that the last :30 or so of the track is just goofy sax honking. I do not love goofy sax honking.
ACROSS 110th STREET - by BOBBY WOMACK
This song fucking rules man. Yes, it's the song from Jackie Brown. We all have to start exploring new things somewhere, right? The song is smooth, the hook is undeniable, and the vibes are right. I have always enjoyed songs about crimes, and I do not know why it took me so long to get into things like this. Bobby Womack is awesome in general, btw. I love the position he takes in many of his songs where he assumes the role of the streetwise elder dispensing real-ass advice to the youths.
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