Weekly Roundup: August 19th
Featuring Chasing Ghosts, Holy Blade, Ecca Vandal, and more.
ERRONEOUS BOTCH:
I’m a huge Bad Neighbour fan, and I had a great time chatting with vocalist/guitarist Cooper Riley on the podcast last week. We spoke about the group’s upcoming debut full-length, Millions (out September 20th), Coop’s nostalgic twang for country music, pulling together friends to smoke cigs and play riffs, writing an album through the isolation and loss of the pandemic, and the band’s rising tour profile over the last 12 months. We also gush about Microwave, La Dispute, Defeater, and much more. It’s dope.
Additionally, if you like what I do here, signing up for the TPD Patreon is the best way to support me, support the show, and help keep the lights on.
We’ve got perks and fun stuff over there, with more on the way, so please do me a solid and check it out. *salute emoji*
Now, on with the words…
SIDE A:
A curated selection of cool shit for you to listen to.
Chasing Ghosts – “Amnesia Everybody”
I’ve been following Naarm indie punks Chasing Ghosts for a while now, but their recent single “Amnesia Everbody” might just be their most vital. Produced by ARIA nominated producer Stevie Knight (Stand Atlantic, Redhook, Yours Truly, Sleeping With Sirens) and mixed by James Paul Wisner (Paramore, Underoath), it’s a catchy, up-tempo anthem with thought-provoking lyrics and the group’s first piece of new music since their critically acclaimed Homelands EP.
As frontman Jimmy Kyle, who hails from Thungutti Country, notes:
“Anthropologist W.E.H. Stanner talked about ‘The Cult of Forgetfulness’ and ‘The Great Australian Silence’ in reference to non-indigenous Australians and their failure to acknowledge not just the atrocities of our past, but in also choosing to not think about them at all. Instead, a different history arose in Australia - one of negative stereotypes that victim-blamed First Nations Peoples for our own marginalisation and systematic decimation.”
Watch the video for “Amnesia Everybody” below:
Alkaline Trio – The Sacrifice b/w At Sickness
Alkaline Trio followed up their recent album, Blood, Hair, And Eyeballs, earlier this year with a surprise release of two new songs. The tracks are available on streaming and on a 7-inch vinyl out October 18th via Rise Records.
According to frontman and Blink-182 acolyte Matt Skiba, both tracks were left off the latest LP due to time constraints; however, the trio is “psyched that these two numbers are being released and will be available on their own special format, no less.” Stream the two-track in full here (Spotify).
Glare – “Mourning Haze”
I’ve featured South Texan Glare in this newsletter a few times, and I’m stoked to see that the alt-rock/shoegaze quintet have teamed up with Deathwish Inc. & Sunday Drive Records for a new single release in the form of the shimmering “Mourning Haze.” To my ear, the guitar lines have a wistful, hypnagogic quality that’s offset by an otherwise bright and punchy drum mix. (We just love contrast, don’t we, folks?)
Ostensibly about “grief and how dreams play a role in processing it,” guitarist Toni Ordaz has confirmed that the track will be included on the group’s upcoming full-length release, tentatively scheduled for early 2025. Listen to “Mourning Haze” here.
Holy Blade – S/T
While the band’s preview video put “Hardcore Twitter”™ into a real tizzy, we’ve finally got the self-titled debut EP from Southern Californian supergroup Holy Blade. It’s a five-track blitz of “Unholy Death Punk” recorded at The Pit Recording Studio with Taylor Young, featuring members of God’s Hate, Forced Order, Twitching Tongues, Cosmic Joke, and True Love. If you’re into punk jumps, woah-oh harmonies, Misfits eyeliner, and weekly repeat listens of The Art of Drowning, then this is for you. Stream the EP in full here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
The Barbarians of California – “Bazooka”
The new band on my radar is the superbly titled The Barbarians of California: the hardcore-adjacent side project of AWOLNATION frontman Aaron Bruno, whose debut album, And Now I’m Just Gnashing My Teeth, drops on October 4th. The forthcoming LP includes the previously released songs “Dopamine Prophecy,” “Where Are the Punks?!?!” and “Far Out, Bro.” A fourth track, “Bazooka,” was my first introduction to the band last week, and it’s a sonic headscratcher in the best possible way. Listen to “Bazooka” here.
SIDE B:
More tracks for you. Deep cuts for the real heads. Still cool.
Bewitcher – Spell Shock
Of all the metal subgenre bifurcations, speed metal is the most simplistic in its ethos: be fast, be fun. Throw in some Satanic melodramatics, and you’ve got yourself a devilishly enjoyable time of the black jeans, never-washed battle-jacket kind.
If this description has you nodding in agreement, then you’ll want to check out Portland’s Bewitcher and their upcoming full-length Spell Shock (out September 27th through Century Media). As their press bio confidently states: “Hellfire rarely sounds this good.” Stream the LP’s pre-release singles here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Ecca Vandal – “Bleed But Never Die”
Back in the Long, Long Ago of 2016, I remember seeing the name Ecca Vandal everywhere. While it’s been a few years since then (global pandemic and *points at everything and shrugs* notwithstanding), the Naarm/Melbourne multi-disciplinary conceptual artist is back with a raucous new single.
Billed as “striking a thread through Idles and Turnstile to Fontaines DC and Denzel Curry,” the track “embodies the twin-soul of punk rock and hip-hop” and “effortlessly [balances] soulful melodies with raw, unapologetic power.” It’s a banger. Watch the clip for “Bleed But Never Die” below:
Torus – S/T
Up-and-comers Torus have landed a signing to MNRK UK and will be dropping their highly-anticipated self-titled debut album for the label (in conjunction with Inside Job) on September 13th. Not much else to write about this one except to say: Do you like rock? Do you like riffs? Do you like rock riffs? Do you find yourself explicably humming along to The Colour and the Shape twenty-five years on? (Of course, you do.) Stream the LP’s pre-release singles here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
FEATURE ALBUM:
A closer, more in-depth look at a new record that ticks all my boxes.
Trench – Between Inverted Worlds
In Ghosts of My Life, late philosopher Mark Fisher writes about contemporary music as a cultural product given in to empty “hauntological” impulses, eschewing newness in favour of endless repetition and pastiche. The TL;DR is this: music no longer feels futuristic, and we’ve seemingly lost our capacity for new and exciting visions of radical futures.
I’ve been reflecting on Fisher’s thesis recently in terms of metalcore for a book project that I’m currently working on, particularly as the subgenre reaches a pivotal 30-year milestone and Fisher’s book reaches its first decade.
While I won’t go as far as to say that Calgary outfit Trench are nakedly futuristic in scope and conceit, their formidable debut full-length, Between Inverted Worlds, feels genuinely fresh to my ears. Its crushing sonic vision is oriented firmly forward rather than fixed backward and entranced by nostalgia’s seductive gaze.
Stream here: Bandcamp | Spotify