Haven't done one of these in awhile.
CHERRY WAVES by DEFTONES - Yes, sometimes I am that dude in cargo shorts and a Deftones shirt. I bought my first pair of black Dickies because of the Drive video. Deftones directly lead me to, among other things; Cocteau Twins, Jawbox, and Spiritualized. It validates me to see dudes built like Maytag refridgerators playing songs about being depressed. I don't think I knew that heavy Rock music came in flavors aside from "pissed," "horny," or "spooky" until I listened to them. Smashing Pumpkins and Nirvana were also like that, but I reached the age where I was interested in such things at the same time the Deftones dropped White Pony. The stars were right. When we are tempted to criticize my affection for Deftones, we must remember my origin story and we should all be grateful that I'm not listening exclusively to Pantera and Aaron Lewis.
DAISUKE by EL HEURVO - I love Hotline Miami so much.
RATTLE by WAILIN' STORMS - For me, the sweet spot of Doom Metal / Stoner Metal / Heavy Blues songs is between 6-8 minutes. So this one fits. Let me hear your cool riff and get into your groove for a little bit. Any more than that and you're just being ridiculous. I see similar bands doing shit like releasing songs that are 15-20 minutes long and I just cannot fathom doing something like that on purpose. It feels like either you're asking me to participate in your self-abuse, or I'm the victim of a prank. "All of side B is one half-hour long song? Haha good one bro." This is one of those songs that had a meta element going where they were like "let's make a song that sounds like you're riding out a thunderstorm inside an old farmhouse," and that kind of thing will always at least pique my interest.
PLANETS COLLIDE by CROWBAR - I really did love Type O Negative a whole bunch, and these guys are basically a multiverse version of Type O who were more into committing crimes than writing sexy poetry. I guess if I'm being honest I could also say that I'm way into the idea of tough guys trying to express vulnerable feelings through aggressive music, which is a medium that makes them feel safe. Crowbar is a band of dudes who look like fuck-off jail chaplains and take on this persona of, like, sad old biker sages trying to warn off the young guys from following in their footsteps. This is a slow, mercilessly heavy song about hitting rock bottom. It works for me on a lot of levels. Plus, it's not too long!
TERRAIN by PG.LOST - I know nothing about this band, but they are doing a funky-Mogwai sort of thing. The ebb and flow of this one gets me pumped, and it's a go-to cardio machine song for me. I mean, I ain't doing more than 30m of cardio no matter what's playing in my earbuds, but this song helps get me over the hump around minute 6.
HEAD OVER HEELS by TEARS FOR FEARS - This song fucks.
PSYCHO MAGNET by LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT - London After Midnight is a band that showed up a whole bunch on the "Cleopatra Records Gothic Club Mix" sample CDs that I used to steal off the covers of scene mags off the rack at Borders. So it's this weird mix of nostalgia and shame when I listen to them today. The "Goth Club Scene" of the early 2000s was a lot cooler and sexier in my head than it probably was in reality.
EVERYONE'S AT HOME EVENTUALLY by STREET SECTS - This band sounds like something Peter Murphy may have done if he'd grown up in California with internet access. I look at them as the heirs to 80s Skinny Puppy. They are very good. I'm not sure what to call what they're doing. Post Industrial Goth Noise? Maybe something like that. Anyway, I've got time for just about everything they've put out.
