banning paragliding
Hey y’all, I’m back from a very tiring (but most excellent) weekend in Detroit for the Tied Down fest and I’ve got non-Hardcore or Metal related music to talk about! I’ll do a quick recap first and then it’s off to the races. Hope you have been well!
Notes from Detroit, Tied Down 2024:
Highlights of the show for me personally:
Seeing Weekend Nachos for the first time.
Another year, got to see another seminal band with Walter Schreifels (Youth of Today.)
Even though I’m a late comer to the Have Heart album (see previous dispatch for more information), their set was unreal.
Little Caesars’ Detroit-style pizza when eaten fresh from a food truck after standing around for hours is like drinking mana from the gods.
Jets Pizza as well, very very good.
My second visit to UHF Records, nice store! Last year we did more off the beaten path record stores, but UHF was a good one for a quick pop-in. Really was tempted to buy the Dillinger Four / Pinhead Gunpowder split seven inch.
If you ever have the chance to go to Taqueria Lupitas, take it. We went back-to-back days there, so damn good!!!
And finally, here’s a picture of my POV from sitting in a single chair wayyyyyyy at the back of the venue because I’m an old fucking man that can’t stand on his feet from 11 am to 10 pm lol
Icon legend:
⛏️ denotes picks of the week.
🌱 seedling denotes albums I liked, but may grow on me.
✨ means worth a look, if you like the genres listed in particular.
As always, please reach out on the hellsite if you’d like or better yet join the Rosy Overdrive Discord server where I can be found now and again. You can also find me in the corners of Rate Your Music scrounging for obscure emo, hardcore, indie-rock and pop-punk.
Don’t forget: if you’re reading this in your email it will be cut off. Read on the web for the full list of reviews!
⛏️ Bagel Fanclub - Encore County Ground (2024)
Genre: Drill and Bass, Chiptune, Breakcore, Power Noise
Bagel Fanclub put out the Acorn Out of Bounds EP earlier this year and for some reason I bounced off that and it distracted me from this LP that also came out a few days later.
This continues the textures that were established on How Are Your Cars Driving?, which I really dug. Mainly, chiptune melodies with breakcore/digital or harsh noise/drill and bass elements. I think there may be a pinch less extended moments of harsh noise (as I type this "thinly veiled anachronisms" explodes into a stretch of harsh noise and proves me wrong) on the whole, making this a slight bit more accessible. I also think they've leaned a bit further into layering melodies on top using chip tune leads like on the aforementioned track where plucky melodies sit on top of abrasive drill drums.
I dunno, I just really like this stuff and it scratches a particular itch I have for maximalist electronic music that piles on elements of genres I like without relying on everything culminating in EDM-influenced style bass drops or whatever. I think some of the structures of the songs are similar but to me that doesn't really matter. Very much enjoyed this, even if it is an hour long! See, I don't always hate on hour long albums!!!
✨ Beak> - >>>> (2024)
Genre: Krautrock, Post-Rock, Neo-Psychedelia, Minimal Wave
Good overall atmosphere here from this spacey, droney kraut act. Haven't revisited >>> in a while now but something about this one landed as a bit same-y to me. Not sure if it's a trick of my ear or if this really does rely on more expected sounds and repetitions than their last one but who knows. It was nice and well-rounded but feels less memorable than their last album for some reason. Maybe repeated listens will open it up, no idea. We'll see? Also, the cover art kinda sucks, I'm sorry.
C Turtle - Expensive Thrills (2024)
Genre: Slacker Rock
Another album I have to call Numero-core. Kinda slowcore, slackery indie rock with sweet dual vocals and plodding, shruggy riffs and soft loud dynamics. They do a bit of noise rock and have a bunch of jangle to them. I like stuff that sounds exactly like this, and it can be hard to pinpoint why some of it works and some of it feels derivative. Generally I would say this feels like the latter, but every so often it clicks and sounds pretty alright.
They bust out some really weird dated 90s stuff on "Shake it Down" which is their most streamed song on Spotify, which makes sense. Reminds me of those 90s singles that sold people on an album and then they realized the rest of the album doesn't really sound like that. I can admire that even if I don't think it's the strongest song in the world.
The more I listened to it, the less cohesive it felt to me, but I didn't mind my time with it at all. I think they kind of ran out of steam and so there's a few weak non-songs or short little diversions on here that make it feel a bit uneven.
🌱 Babe Report - Did You Get Better (2024)
Genre: Indie Rock, Power Pop
Noisy indie rock power-pop kind of stuff here from this Chicago group. Some dischordant D.C. post-hardcore elements in here, but always either in service of hooks or energy. It's a little lightweight but in the moment it feels enjoyable and fairly satisfying. Feels like a "band to watch" kind of album as opposed to one where you feel like you've heard everything from them already.
Would be very interested to see where they expand their sound from here for sure.
⛏️ Despistado - The People of and Their Verses (2005)
Genre: Emo, Post-Hardcore
Despistado were one of those bands that burned really bright, very briefly, and then broke up.
Their The Emergency Response EP got a glowing review on Pitchfork back when that basically could make or break an entire musical career. This band from Saskatchewan had been signed by Jade Tree on the strength of their EP (probably how it landed on Pitchfork's desk tbh), then toured and promptly broke up before they could even release their debut full-length. I feel like there's a lot of Canadian examples of "got hype, toured, grew to hate each other, broke up", but I digress.
Despistado played indie rock with equal foundations of second wave emo, wirey post-punk and the dance-punk-adjacent DC post-hardcore sound. They were less a jagged, crunchy act and focused more on layering plucky, strummy riffs on top of one another until they create a kind of patchwork of melody.
They have a bit of a special thing going where their guitar riffs feel like they are half a step away from crumbling beneath them, and yet they work anyway. The lyrics balance between yelpy emo vocals and gang-chanted hooks. Songs like "Magnetic Streetlights" have stuck with me since I first heard it in 2005, so this isn’t that kind of all attitude, no melody thing. That said, some of the songs that lack consistent energy are probably the weakest elements here.
In my head, before I landed on the Rate Your Music page for the band I figured it could go one of two ways - a bunch of reviews and fawning over the band as an unheralded gem, or crickets. Seems like the latter, but this very much feels like a quintessential "rym band", take that how you will.
⛏️ Constantines - The Constantines (2001)
Genre: Indie Rock, Post-Hardcore
Okay, another Canadian album. Revisiting this today got me wondering if the cult appreciation of the Constantines extend into the states (or elsewhere) much? In Canada their first 2 albums were were widely celebrated, they were nominated for a 2002 Juno Award and they would often sell out venues and generally seemed to have an incredibly fervent fandom. Constant comparisons to being “Fugazi covering Bruce Springsteen” or “this generation’s Tragically Hip” and stuff like that. When they reunited in 2014, it seemed like an enormous deal.
And yet, I go onto Rate Your Music and their albums aside from Shine a Light have sub-600 ratings. Sure, there’s a few people in the comments section (rightfully) claiming The Constantines (2001) or Shine a Light (2003) should be heralded as some of the best rock albums of the 00s, but they never seemed like they got canonized in the bigger picture of 00s indie/punk rock? Or even just Canadian rock? Feel like Stars or Wolf Parade remain in people’s mind more than Constantines, and they definitely are as deserving.
Anyway, the album; it alternates between firey, wirey, rootsy indie punk and post-hardcore with slower more contemplative moments. The phrase "working up a sweat" comes to mind a lot when I listen to this album. Songs like "Steal This Sound" have an emo-adjacent ability to twist their plucked guitar notes into big time releases of energy. Building to the finale of "Young Offenders" is an all timer for me. I think "Saint You" into "The McKnight Life" drags the record down a bit and you end up feeing more of the 42 minute run time.
Someone else said it already in a comments box on Rate Your Music, but I feel like we’re due for the cyclical nature of punk and indie rock to come around and we’ll have a bunch of bands talking up how influential The Constantines (2001) or Shine a Light (2003) were to them. Honestly, surprised it hasn’t happened in a bigger way already?
Blunt Mechanic - World Record (2010)
Genre: Indie Rock
8-track recorded indie rock from Kind of Like Spitting's Ben Barnett.
Songs like "Thrown Out at Third" and "Aluminum and Light" are really great hunks of guitar rock / pop that I wish the rest of the album were that strong. Diversions like "Proof" are neat, texturally, but they don't really hang in terms of repeatability. I find the air of this project really cool - just a bunch of stuff recorded on 8-track from full-band stuff to lo-fi acoustic and weird synth elements - but it doesn't really make a great record. On the strength of those two songs in my memory I held this up as a kind of hidden gem but as a whole... not really. Those songs that hit are great though… YMMV!
✨ Shitty Neighbors - People I Know (2021)
Genre: Punk Rock
More above average punk rock / orgcore stuff that hits me in just the right spot. I wish it was a pinch hookier, but this has the right attitude and energy for me. Big time late-career Banner Pilot or Hold Tight! kind of thing. Also reminds me of that new Middle-Out album a bit. "Lock #6" in particular has a moment that VIVIDLY brought Piebald to mind. Very good, very enjoyable.
That’s it, that’s all. Be excellent to one other.
I had never heard of the Constantines until my Canadian friend introduced them to me a few years ago.
I used to be a huge Kind of Like Spitting fan. A lot of it hasn’t aged that well for me, including the Blunt Mechanic record, but I remember the period when I was deeply into his albums fondly.