Feeling Horizontal
October 18th, 2023
Hello, hello. Today on the Tab I’m testing the waters a little bit. In the past I’ve used this newsletter exclusively for recommendations and not exactly reviews. I wouldn’t necessarily post an album that wasn’t a wholehearted recommendation but in the past month or two I’ve been really leaning into tracking my thoughts and opinions on my listening habits so I figured I’ll expand my palette a bit.
I’m not saying that I’ll ever share something and be like “this sucks!!!!” but where I might feel a little more middling on but still might be up someone else’s alley may be useful to share! I’ve often found a lot of music I love from bad reviews, to be honest. Maybe growing up around the early years of Pitchfork will do that to you (I learned quick to skip the numbers and just read a review to see if it sounded like something I might like vs. the reviewer.)
Let me know what you think over on that site with the changing names. I still haven’t jumped ship.
Open City - Hands in the Honey Jar (Get Better Records)
Second album from this group featuring Dan Yemin (Lifetime, Paint it Black, Armalite, Kid Dynamite), Chris Wilson (Acquaintances, Hammered Hulls, Ted Leo, Titus Andronicus), Rachel Rubino (Bridge And Tunnel, Worriers), Andy Nelson (Paint it Black, Ceremony, Affirmative Action Jackson.)
Like their other record, this wavers between melodic hardcore and a poppier strain of indie-punk plus some bursts of Fugazi-esque post-hardcore. Really good stuff if you're into this kind of thing. Goes down easy but the hooks and riffs are strong enough that I can see this sticking around in my rotation for the rest of the year, and even landing in my year-end list.
dgoHn & Badun - Talk to the Planets (Love Love Records)
I don't require a whole lot from drum and bass, and this is 20 minutes of effective drum and bass. I really dug dgoHn's album from 2020 for the same reason. Not familiar with Badun, their collaborator on this EP, but hey it was nice to work alongside for 20 minutes so not bad.
Slow Pulp - Yard (Anti)
My memory of listening to Slow Pulp's previous album Moveys was that it seemed alright but didn't stick in my memory for too long. Now I’m wondering if I should circle back and try again because Yard landed as really effective and hooky to me almost immediately.
This kind of indie/pop/rock can sometimes feel like it's dissolving like cotton candy into water as it leaves your ears but the melodies here are strong enough that they had me interested throughout. Even on a solo-piano track like "Yard" it doesn't feel like a throwaway melody or transitional track.
I could see a criticism of something like "Carina Phone 1000" being that often the band seems to be playing one range for a lot of these songs, but to me the vocal performances and melodies are strong enough to support songs that feel like they're not ebbing and flowing in an over-dramatic way.
Worst thing I could say about this is when they toss in a folksy tune like "Broadview" it feels a bit like it stops by from a totally different album or band almost. Like it's a song stopping by from the Jenny Lewis album playing next door or something. And yet it's still a decent tune so, shrug. Ditto with the expected acoustic closer "Fishes," it's just not the strongest song. But hey, 30 minute album, fair handful of highlights! Solid.
Small Crush - Penelope (Asian Man Records)
The second LP from Small Crush - and first since 2019 - sits right on the fence between twee and indie-rock with a folk singer-songwriter tinge to it. The hooks keep things grounded and stops it becoming overly twee (sometimes a bad thing) or overly sugary and poppy (not a bad thing but maybe not suited for this kind of band.)
Because of my personal tastes, the more upbeat stuff like "Be Back Soon" or "Rumblin Tummy" is what works best imo. Overall, well rounded though and not bad.
Grove Street - The Path to Righteousness (UNFD)
To me this sounds like a solid mix of hardcore breakdown chugging riffs and wacky throwback metal atmosphere, which is usually a successful blend for me. I'm pretty easy to please when it comes to heavy stuff, I don't find myself thinking super critically about it unless it really bounces off my ears.
This is just 35 minutes of fun riffing around with ridiculous drum fills and groove-based hardcore breakdowns. The riffs segue super silkily from meathead chugging to denim jacket metal hammer-on-hammer-off riffs. I think that's what feels nicest about this record to me.
Magazine Beach - Constant Springtime (Take This to Heart)
Constant Springtime is strongest when it sticks to the emo-poppy, melodic indie-punk kind of song. "Totally Cool" is a kind of Lemuria / Tigers Jaw thing and I think they pull that off well. They get into a stretch of songs that all follow that formula and it's pretty decent. The only stuff that doesn't work here for me is when they stretch outside those boundaries like on the opener or the interlude-style songs and acoustic track. Another one for the "really wanna hear what their next one sounds like" pile.
Koyo - Would You Miss It? (Pure Noise Records)
A perfectly cromulent album of pop-punk by way of melodic hardcore but honestly... by song four or five you'll feel like you've already heard what the entire album has to serve you. Really wish this had a few more songs with massive hooks to push it over the top, or a few slightly heavier melodic hardcore chug chug moments.
I listen to a lot of music that sounds just like this, so it's totally acceptable and maybe even above-average for the genre but even the song with Vinnie from Movielife sounds like... a c-tier Movielife song.
Who knows, maybe this will grow on me? I have a tendency to return to these kind of albums for vibe and energy alone, so we'll see I suppose.
Zulu - A New Tomorrow (Flatspot)
Absolutely can see why this would be divisive from a structure and pacing perspective but personally the samples and the genre-hopping really work together to create something affecting and effective from a few different angles. The hardcore/powerviolence stuff doesn't break the mold but in conjunction with the samples and spoken word I feel like when you do zoom out on this as a whole piece of work it holds up incredibly well and actually is paced quite effectively. looking at it on a "song by song" basis you can easily go "OK these are the few 'song songs' I would return to just on their own" but this isn't really an album where I need to do that, it's enjoyable to take in as one 28 minute piece of art and is one of the reasons why I do find myself returning to it.
Kool Keith & Real Bad Man - Serpent (Real Bad Man Records)
Kool Keith has released maybe an album's worth of good music over the course of, like, 14 albums it feels like. 2020's Space Goretex was an interesting but samey collab with noise/punk/grind band Thetan. Collabs with buzzy producers like L'Orange, Ray West or even a whole album with Del The Funky Homosapien were pretty good at best and terrible at worst (the less said about the latter Subatomic LP the better I’d say.)
So, safe to say you truly never know what you're going to get from Keith. Serpent is a collab with Real Bad Man on production and damn if this isn't Keith's best effort in years and years. Keith sounds engaged with some memorable material and the beats are fantastic throughout.
But then again, Keith has already released two more albums since this one dropped (Black Elvis 2, Mr. Controller) so they've already moved on in classic Keith fashion. Black Elvis 2 is another fairly solid effort, but Mr. Controller is more Keith business as usual (i.e. sounds a bit like a dumping ground.)
Regardless, albums like Serpent are why I'll keep checking in on their records just in case.
The World Famous - Totally Famous (Lauren Records)
Put simply, more hooky indie-rock power-pop stuff; a pinch jangly, some classic rock lead riffery, some vague alt-country elements. It’s well-rounded material that won't change your life but sounds good while it's playing.
Capra - Errors (Metal Blade Records Inc.)
Shit hot, no frills, gut punching stuff that sits at that crossroads between hardcore, metalcore and punk. This is the kind of stuff that hits me in a spot I can always go for.
RIYL Nora, Sweat, Power Alone, Every Time I Die, etc.
Persher - Man With the Magic Soap (2022, Thrill Jockey Records)
I’m not sure how I missed this Arthur Cayzer and Jamie Roberts (aka Karenn, who landed on my 2019 year-end list) collab in 2022, but I guess you'd call this electro-industrial noise metal? Someone at RYM on a Karenn review called it cyber-death? I dunno... it's really sick though. Ear-piercingly loud mix of industrial and extreme noise/aggressive stuff but never becomes so avant garde or obtuse that it stops working as, you know, music. really cool. Destined to be divisive because this probably would have landed on my 2022 year-end list but I also saw it on multiple “worst albums of 2022” lists, lmao.
Armalite - Armalite (2006, No Idea Records)
Have always had a soft spot for this LP, a collab between Adam Goren (Atom and his Package, Fracture), Dan Yemin (Kid Dynamite, Lifetime, Open City, Paint It Black, Bitter Branches), Jeff Ziga (Affirmative Action Jackson, Staticlone), and Mike McKee (Kill The Man Who Questions, Amateur Party).
You might not think snotty Atom and his Package style melodies would mix well with Yemin's style, but it really does... and it does so without just being "oh its Lifetime but with Atom" or "Oh its a Paint it Black album with Atom".
Stylistically it's kind of all over the map between straight-forward pop punk and melodic hardcore as well with a lot of wirey lead guitar stuff that feels a bit unexpected. I imagine if you are not an Adam Goren fan, this isn't going to change any minds. But if you're already on that wavelength and you also like Yemin's other projects, it's win win.
Jimmy Eat World - Static Prevails (1996, Capital Records)
It's a shame that later Jimmy Eat World releases lack the vocal interplay between Tom and Jim because it's really effective.
Even without the two bonus tracks on streaming, this is way overlong, but the foundation in emo-based noisy indie-rock is strong and the production from Trombino gives the album grit and heft to their guitarwork that their later releases are often missing. If this was 35 minutes I'd probably hold it in way higher regard but it's still effective for what it is and even some of the lesser songs are good, just taken as a whole it's a bit much.
Both Clarity (over-indulgent imo) and Bleed American (huge singles and a couple deeper cuts but a lot of filler) are beyond spotty. I think Jimmy Eat World are a little destined to be a spotty album band for me, even if stuff like Futures gets there overall in terms of just gut-hitting riffy emo-rock.
Death Cab for Cutie - Something About Airplanes (1998, Barsuk Records)
I hate to be that guy but I've always been so confused as to why We Have The Facts… was held in higher regard than their debut. My introduction to the band was The Photo Album so I'm not pulling some "I was there first maaan" baloney but their slowcore influences and Built to Spill worship (or midwestern grey-day indie rock in general with shades of 764-Hero or Modest Mouse) on this album always hit harder for me than the clearer, cleaner sibling of their follow-up. I guess I'll have to circle back on it though since it has been a few years.
Facts always felt like it had a lot of... filler... to me. I'm sure someone could say the exact same thing about Airplanes, but maybe the textures here land better for me personally. Something like “Your Bruise” could land with a thud for people but there's a charm to its looseness and shambly nature and the way its hooks feel tossed off.
“Amputations” is an all time DCFC song for me, and in generally I think the drum performance by Nathan Good elevates the entire record. The second half of “Pictures in Exhibition?” Hell yeah, Nathan just leaning into the kit on the crashes, bass kicks and drum fills. It's so satisfying.
There's some lyrical cringiness in some of these lines - Gibbard has gone on record not knowing what the hell they were going on about when they wrote these lyrics - but that's feature not bug at this point for the band so I'm willing to let a few of those lines ("stutter step to those slammin' grooves" lol) slide.
Amp 176 - Repo'd (2000, Pshaw!)
Sloan Lorsung played guitar on Dillinger Four's Higher Aspirations Tempered And Dismantled E.P. (later collected on This Shit Is Genius) which is how I ended up finding this LP of indie-tinged emo-rock from 2000. This isn't groundbreaking or life changing but it's decent enough.
There's a lot of other bands bubbling around in their sound, which has that dueling guitar, dual-singer attack that suggests something that could skirt into post-hardcore territory if they weren't more interested in mining for pop hooks instead. Unfortunately the songs they have here aren't incredibly memorable... though they fall into the "scratched an itch while it was on" place for me so I didn't mind it.
I saw some reviews from 2000 name check bands like Drive Like Jehu or Fugazi (nope, not really) when instead I'd be bringing up the likes of Cadillac Blindside, Samiam, or maybe even Hey Mercedes.
🔁 2023 Heavy Rotation
Albums in my heavy-ish rotation throughout the year. Good one to keep an eye on for the best of the best, or at least stuff I’ve really been enjoying.
📝 2023: Favourite Discoveries
Not as wildly active as my other playlists but I do keep track of some “new to me” stuff that I really dig over here!
That’s it, that’s all. Be excellent to one other.
based on these reco’s, I would bet U$D hard currency that you would dig Super City who dropped an album via Sofa Burn Records today.