February 27th, 2023
A bevvy of stuff for you to listen to. Cheers.
It’s me again, here to tell you what to listen to! As always these days, I’m not going to belabor the introduction. I hope you find some stuff that scratches your musical itch. Let me know what you’ve been enjoying by hitting me up on Twitter, if you wanna.
Cel Ray - Cellular Raymond (Self-Released)
A pinch of Chicago punk folded into a nice big pile of raucous post-punk. I think there’s some of what people are calling “egg punk” in here too, but I don’t know if I’m hip enough to properly identify it, I just caught a look at the Bandcamp tags for that one. I like how Cel Ray can jump from XTC/Gang of Four slashing into bashed-to-bits power chords with a quick break for a few piercing lead-lines. A perfect contender for one of my overused “you’ve heard these sounds before, but rarely done this well” kind of lines.
Mui Zyu - Rotten Bun for an Eggless Century (Father/Daughter Records)
An amazing kind of experimental haunting pop music record. Rotten Bun for an Eggless Century was a bit out of nowhere for me so it landed really, really hard. This is one of those albums that I will circle back on again and again because it’s got an amazing mix of listenable art-pop vibes but with a ton of depth that repeat listens will continue to open up. I love this album; another year-ender for sure.
En Attendant Ana - Principia (Trouble in Mind Records)
En Attendant Ana’s last album landed on my 2020 year-end list, so I was pretty stoked to hear their latest one when it dropped. It’s more phenomenal dreamy indie-sophisti-pop from this incredibly consistent group and it’s one of those rare albums that immediately secured a spot on my year-end favs. Just give it a spin, already!
Blues Lawyer - All In Good Time (Dark Entries Records)
I said it on twitter but life can be pretty shitty but this new Blues Lawyer album is NOT! What a delight!!!!!! Truly love it. They weren't totally on my radar until this album but it's one of those spinning wheel of pop genres records where every track is a new stop on the wheel and you don't know if it'll be a jangly pop thing or a Smithsy ballad or something else altogether. Again, a delight!
Girl Scout - Real Life Human Garbage (MADE Records)
There’s something to be said for an EP’s worth of comfy, catchy indie-pop. Opener “All The Time and Everywhere” feels like it sits somewhere between Voxtrot’s scrappy EPs and their polished full-length. Boppy, poppy and fizzy with the right pinch of melancholy. The band’s jazz-based past shows up a little in the skitter of “Run Me Over” and lends a nice swing to their sound. All five songs feel juuuuuuuust right to me so I’ve been spinning this one a lot!
Spiral XP - It’s Been a While (Danger Collective Records)
Solid indie rock with textural shoegaze elements and dream pop hooks. This skirts around an issue I often have with modern shoegaze that just sounds like one or two classic bands by having a bit more going on stylistically. There's a bit of slowcore in there, some mid-tempo indie-punk, just a nice brew of sounds and styles that won't blow you away but goes down real nice.
Negative Blast - Echo Planet (Quiet Panic Records)
This San Diego band plays a potent mix of straight-ahead hardcore punk that whips itself around corners into genres like power violence, heavy sludge and even some more melodic atmospheric moments. I love when a band can take a bunch of genre touchpoints and work them into a consistent sound and Echo Planet is 20 minutes of music that I’ve been coming back to again and again.
Statues - New People Make Us Nervous (Pelado Records)
I think I first came across this band in a Mitch Clem comic years ago, where they are mentioned alongside Sass Dragons, Dillinger Four, The Ergs, Municipal Waste and others. Not that those bands would give you an idea of Statues’ sound, but it was meant as a “there’s a lot of different kind of punk rock you can listen to!” Statues are the kind of power-pop indebted punk that I am always looking for more of. Not sure why it took me this long to finally press play.
Hold Tight! - Blizzard of ‘96 (Animal Style Records)
No idea where this band was in regards to my radar in 2012, because I would have been all over their stuff back then. Some of the best gruff but poppy orgcore style throwback punk/emo that I’ve heard in years; I can’t stop listening to their 2 full-lengths and 1 EP these days. Not sure they ever toured near here, but can’t believe I missed the opportunity to sing along to these sweaty barn burners at some beer-soaked local show.
The Like Young - So Serious (Parasol Records)
These days, Joe Ziemba is maybe most known online for being the Creative Director of the American Genre Film Archive (AGFA) in Texas (as well as for having created Bleeding Skull, a personal favourite of mine.) Long ago, they were in a power-pop duo called The Like Young that formed in the ashes of the (for some) seminal twee band Wolfie.
Joe’s career has been a wild one to follow because at every step they’ve created stuff that aligns with all of my interests: blown-out fuzzy hooks, experimental pop, obscure movies discovered crusty VHS tapes and more. Their album License to Dive (released as Desacatyl) is another one that has been featured on a year-end list of mine. So was Taken by Savage’s (Joe and Annie Choi’s bass-drums-n-synth-etc. duo) album Sleepaway Cramp.
Anyway, the long story short here is The Like Young’s album So Serious seriously rips, and Joe has a whole kind of extended musical universe that begs to be explored. Get to it!
🔁 2023 Heavy Rotation
The best way to keep tabs on what I’ve been listening to a lot throughout the year; sort by Date Added (newest to oldest) for the most recent additions.
🔎 The 80s Best Kept Secrets
If you’ve made it this far and you’re still craving something to listen to, why don’t you peruse my playlist of underrated or overlooked 80s records?
That’s it, that’s all. Be excellent to one other.
Some great stuff here! I know I already mentioned it, but Cel Ray was killer & the Girl Scout EP checked all kinds of boxes for me. Really dug the Spiral XP record as well.