Invisible Scene
August 1st, 2023
Once upon a time, I wasn’t just labeling these dispatches by date and I also would share more “mixtape” style playlists. Not sure why I moved towards something more strict regarding naming conventions but today I’m feeling like throwing a wrench into the substack.
Anyway, trying to lean back into these things a little more. I was sitting around tonight - Emma’s off seeing Boy George, Berlin and Howard Jones, helluva bill that one - and wondering what to do with myself. I’m not sure about you, but I’m definitely the kind of person who has so many little ideas and projects always bouncing around my brain that whenever I have any time to myself I feel horribly incapable of making any decision about what I should focus on. Younger Dan would probably have done more than a few - written something for a website, watched multiple movies, listened to three albums, played guitar for an hour before bed, etc. etc. These days free time seems to incapacitate me.
This is me trying to kick myself in the ass and do something productive, so here we go.
2xAA - Alescere (Data Airlines)
I loved 2xAA's album from 2019 called Anachronous, and somehow I missed this new release from February despite them being one of those artists I would return to now and again to see if they have anything new.
in my mind Anachronous was more of a hybrid sounding chiptune album - more of a progressive electronic vibe with chiptune adornments. listening to Alescere and reading the liner notes about how it was entirely composed on a Gameboy Advance using nanoloop 2 and digitally captured through a Gamecube via the Game Boy Player has me second guessing that. I would have assumed Alescere must be a hybrid album of non-chiptune and chiptune elements but damn if that's not the case.
I would absolutely not consider myself to be a chiptune expert but I've listened to a lot of different chiptune artists and albums over the years and even being familiar with different sounds from different origin system/platforms/software etc. I still felt like this sounded incredibly diverse. Amazing stuff if you're into this kind of thing.
Riot Stares - Sounds of Acceleration (DAZE)
Can absolutely understand anyone who is tired of the 90s throwback thing in hardcore/metalcore hating riot stares. this is basically a band doing Snapcase, Orange 9mm and Quicksand roleplay. I think structurally these songs are often super similar and maybe even stale (the vocals in particular are very one-note) but there's a part of me that just digs this at a gut level. I can't help it!
Had to laugh at the "music for your ex-vegan hardcore older brother who modifies cars for a living now" in the comments box on RateYourMusic lmao honestly too true.
Snooper - Super Snõõper (Third Man Records)
I've loved Snõõper's EPs and was stoked that they had an LP on the way, even if it included a bunch of re-recorded tracks from their single/EP releases. This is more of what you'd expect from the egg punk/Devo-esque warped punk scene that they're a part of, but I like how there's a bit of SST punk in them. Whenever I listen Snõõper I hear some of that first Descendents single in their sound, kind of like if you played "It's A Hectic World" three times too fast. Closing track "Running" is over 5 minutes which is a behemoth length for a band normally clocking in between 30 to 90 seconds.
Points to where the band may end up moving and stretching out towards on future releases. cool track but I also hope they don't forget their wild and over-cranked tempo of stuff like "Xerox" or "Fitness" because that's what makes them special to me.
rocky - rocky (Lulus Sonic Disc Club)
To be honest this wasn’t anywhere on my radar, but within about 20 seconds I figured this release must have something to do with Grass Widow. When Grass Widow dropped Past Time in 2010 it absolutely melted my brain, I love that album so so much. Anyway, I fled to Bandcamp and there it was: rocky is a new project from Xanthe Waite (Terry, Primo) and Raven Mahon (Grass Widow, Green Child). If you are a fiend for lockstep guitar and bass melodies, post-punk drum machine jams and dual vocals this will be your new favourite. Definitely an immediate year-ender for me.
Polinski - Telex From MIDI City (Data Airlines)
Data Airlines are one of those labels I will check in on multiple times a year but I think in 2023 I wasn’t doing it as often as I could have, because this is another release from earlier in the year that slipped past me.
While this one dips into synthwave cheesiness here and there (mostly structurally), it’s otherwise this is a very strong mix of that genre with IDM/glitch/progressive electronic and some very very slight jungle or dnb flourishes. Really enjoyed this as work soundtrack fodder and will likely return to it some more this year.
Bagel Fanclub - How Are Your Cars Driving? (Maulcat Records)
This is a nice heap of kaleidoscopic breakcore/glitch/chip/drill ‘n’ bass noisiness. Secret Mommy-esque art-glitch with power noise explosions. Very fun stuff if you're into that kinda thing. Unfortunately some of the stretches of noisier material inch into near-grating in moments and it's too long at almost 50 minutes. Still, I liked this quite a bit.
Ninety Pound Wuss - Short Hand Operation (1999)
Ninety Pound Wuss were one of the lesser heralded bands on Christian label Tooth & Nail. Between their first album (a pretty standard mix of punk rock with pop punk elements and inching into hardcore territory) and this they really pushed their sound into a more post-hardcore noise-rock kind of sound to great effect.
Another review on Rate Your Music described them as like "a Christian Drive Like Jehu" and they're not that good but it's not far off a starting place. There's definitely a pinch of that garage-noise-rock in here and the singer has a Rocket From The Crypt thing going on sometimes. They add a bunch of little synth lines in here too, you can tell they were a band trying to stretch the definition and edges of their sound/genre.
Sadly (watch out Dan is about to say an album is too long again, take a drink) it's 50 minutes long... do we need the four and a half minute instrumental "It Seems So Far Away"? Cut this thing down to like 35 minutes and it's a stone cold underrated classic. as it is, mostly good stuff imo and a little unfortunately forgotten.
In my mind their second album "Where Meager Die of Self-Interest" is a better (see also: only 34 minutes) meeting point of their earlier sound and this album, but I'll need to revisit that to be sure.
Club Night - What Life (2019)
I have always felt like this is one of the more underrated albums to come out of the emo-adjacent scene of the 2010s. Club Night really refuse to sit in one seat on What Life. There are familiar elements like the stabs of noodly guitar lines from midwestern emo, bursts of synths, math or post-rock diversions, and strained vocals that recall earlier waves of emo, but that hit melodies that feel like Wolf Parade-era indie-rock. I guess The Anniversary meets Wolf Parade would be a snappy way to try and start to describe them, if there wasn't a lot more going on here on top of those two easy reference points.
All these songs take interesting turns and bring in multiple strong melodies that could probably prop up simpler songs. I imagine the roomy, echo-y vocals will be a sore point for some people who need something with more of a vocal foundation to really grab onto. it works so well for me though. every time I listen to this I leave thinking "I want more music from this band!" Thankfully, it sounds like that'll be on the horizon.
Punk Barbarians - Sex, Props, Cream... And the Drama in Between (1996)
This seemingly forgotten group from Long Island sounds to me almost like a meeting point between Hieroglyphics' crew style with maybe a sprinkle of Wu's grimey atmosphere. There's some Pharcyde in here too on songs like "Hooptie Car." The raps are mostly slice of life stuff with some lightly comedic moments; they lay out the modus operandi on the "Prelude to Drama" skit explaining the LPs title. Probably a bit underrated as this is quite strong straight through!
Martha and The Muffins - This Is the Ice Age (1981)
You'd be forgiven if you'd only heard "Echo Beach" by M+M and didn't bother seeking any of their other work out. Not that it's a bad song, but it's a radio hit by a band who I feel like most people enjoy one song by. For those that would go and listen to their debut full-length Metro Music, they found a top-to-bottom strong record. This Is The Ice Age, though, is their pinnacle. Oft-overlooked, though these days it has a pretty sizable cult (it's bolded on RYM after all, if you care about that sort of thing.)
Great mix of new wavy post punky bops and synth soundscapes. Main complaint would be some of the colder material stretches out a pinch longer than needed. They'd go on to lean even further into Talking Heads-esque percussive worship on Danseparc, which is alright too but really lacks a certain something that this album has in spades.
The Fiendz - Wact (1991)
You’ll often see this band listed as punk (or even sometimes hardcore punk, probably due to their earlier work) but Wact is super melodic pop-punk with very smooth grit-less vocals. The hooks are huge though and since I heard this for the first time (last year or so) it's been one that I often come back to.
There's definitely some Costello-influence that elevates their earlier, more straight Ramones-style style here. It's fun to pick out the influences - there's some Decendents in the "Scumbum" - and then hear who they'd go on to influence (I wonder if Smoking Popes were into this stuff?) I also respect the leave 'em wanting more attitude of a song like "R.I.P." where by the time it's over you want to spin that hook all over again.
This is one of those bands where you'll read about how they are legends and wildly influential but there will be very little actual writing on them? And then it has 3 ratings on Rate Your Music haha. There is a podcast with the singer of The Fiendz where a member of Fun Size talks about how Wact is their favourite record, though.
It's wild to hear about how Wact was super divisive in their fanbase, but in a lot of ways they were ahead of their time in 1991 with something this melodic, this poppy and that kind of straddles punk and alt-rock in a way? Great stuff.
Also.... did that song from Eurotrip rip off the title track? lol
🌊 Women in New Wave, Post-Punk, No-Wave, Punk Rock & More
Have you heard my playlist that I generated based off the “Don’t Behave in the New Wave” list on Rate Your Music? Took me a good chunk of time to get this 530+ song playlist finalized so why not go toss it on shuffle?
📝 2023: Favourite Discoveries
Haven’t been so great keeping this up to date, but here’s some new to me (or new-ish to me in some cases) albums that I enjoyed stumbling upon this year.
That’s it, that’s all. Be excellent to one other.
Great stuff as always! A lot of new (to me) bands here. Thanks also for the New Wave playlist; that's today's work soundtrack.