Weekly Roundup: February 5th
Featuring Softcult, ERRA, Midnight, and more.
MOSH PITHY:
A curated selection of cool shit for you to listen to.
Softcult – “Shortest Fuse”
Canadian grunge-gaze outfit Softcult are back with a searing new single. The Ontario duo—consisting of twin siblings Mercedes and Phoenix Arn-Horn—were featured in my Top 10 EPs of 2023 with the release of see you in the dark (go listen to my Hit List episode with Mercedes here). The group are coming Down Under for the first time as part of the New Bloom Festival in March (15-17th), along with a run of sideshow dates with Movements (9-17th). “Shortest Fuse” is a withering indictment of the capitalist logic to keep the poor poor and the rich richer. As the band puts it:
“It’s difficult to not become disenfranchised with capitalism when you exist in this reality and see no end in sight. We can’t become complicit in a system that is designed to keep us down.”
Watch the video for “Shortest Fuse” below:
Drunk Mums – Beer Baby
Naarm/Melbourne dive bar punkers Drunk Mums are roaring back onto the stage after a four-year hiatus. Their forthcoming record is cheekily titled Beer Baby and is set to detonate on March 7th through the good folks over at Legless Records. It’s the follow-up to 2018’s Urban Cowboy LP, and as their Bandcamp presser puts it:
“Drunk Mums deliver ten relentless, no-holds-barred party anthems that leave no room for sadness, emotions, or rational thinking. They’ve discarded all that baggage, turning it into fertile ground for a relentless, no-BS, good-time rock ‘n’ roll explosion.”
Stream the LP’s pre-release singles here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
HEAVY HEX – “You Can’t Stay Here”
Here’s a new melodic hardcore/post-hardcore outfit on my radar. HEAVY HEX have signed to the iconic Bridge Nine Records, and released a new single in the form of the emotionally charged “You Can't Stay Here.” It’s a hard-hitting track with impactful vocals, a hooky lead riff, and a lyrical focus on homelessness and the wilful ignorance and invisibility of how the unhoused are treated. Vocalist David Gastiaburo expands:
“‘You Can’t Stay Here’ was written after NYC’s failed attempts to sweep homeless encampment sites. It was an ill attempt to force the homeless into shelters, but it failed. Out of the 2,300 homeless people present during those sweeps, only 119 agreed to go to a shelter, and most of them did not stay. Many were forced out with little time to take any of their belongings with them. These are people, too; just like us, trying to get by.”
Listen to “You Can’t Stay Here” here.
Agriculture – Living Is Easy
Blackgaze outfit Agriculture have a new release coming out that brings together old and new. The band’s debut EP, The Circle Chant, is getting a re-release and will be joined with a new four-song EP, Living Is Easy, to make a 12-inch LP out May 3rd on The Flenser. The Cali quartet released their self-titled debut LP last year, a record that took the raw intensity of black metal and uplifted it with the loy of everyday life, seeking something joyful, ecstatic and divine in the process. Stream the LP’s pre-release singles here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
RedHook – “Scream 2”
Eora/Sydney-based alt-rockers RedHook are kicking off 2024 with one of their heaviest singles to date. “Scream 2” was produced by Stevie Knight (Stand Atlantic), mixed by James Paul Wisner (Underoath, Paramore), and offers up a snarling fusion of deadly pop hooks and alt-metal heaviness. The quartet had a massive 2023: their debut LP, Postcard From A Living Hell, was a #10 ARIA Chart performer; national tours supporting The Smashing Pumpkins and Jane’s Addiction; and their biggest ever, largely sold-out headline tour. Definitely ones to watch; insert “big things coming” tagline. Listen to “Scream 2” here.
Blanket – Ceremonia
I featured Blackpool alt-rock/shoegazers Blanket last year during the release of their Blue Eyes EP. Well, the band’s full-length Church Road Records follow-up, Ceremonia, is now upon us and set for release on March 22nd. A few singles are already out, and if the record sounds anything like “Porcelain”—artsy space rock of Cave In and HUM variety meets the crushing, wall-of-sound approach of Ride and Swervedriver—then I’m all the way in. Stream the LP’s pre-release singles here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
ERRA – “Cure”
Progressive metalcore all-stars ERRA are finally back with a new record: CURE follows up 2021’s self-titled album and will see release on April 5th via UNFD. The record’s title track is also the lead single and showcases the band’s vision for technicality, heaviness and emotional atmosphere. This one’s chock full of tectonic grooves that slide and crash against the group’s alternating melodic refrains and harsh screamed vocals. It’s chunky and catchy in equal measure; a classic ERRA joint through and through. Watch the video for “Cure”:
Midnight – Hellish Expectations
Black’n’roll miscreant Midnight will unleash their sixth full-length, Hellish Expectations, on March 8th via Metal Blade Records. This one-man project led by “Athenar” has been churning out countless demos, splits, and EPs for over two decades, taking the metal/punk underground by storm in the process. As the record’s Bandcamp profile states, “Hellish Expectations [is] a ten-track sonic assault of blackened heavy metal nefariousness.” Or in Athenar’s words:
“It’s a knuckle dragger with a fat cut-off. Pure testosterone meat. Probably the most concise and straight to the point MIDNIGHT album to date, and all written in a weekend.”
Stream the LP’s pre-release singles here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Listen to all these tracks and more on the TPD 2024-7 HITS playlist, updated weekly.
HEAVY METTLE:
A closer, more in-depth look at a new record that ticks all my boxes.
Xed Out – No More Blue Skies
The other week, I was chatting with a friend and singing the praises of Arizona post-hardcore outfit The Bled. In my humble opinion, they’re one of the most underrated bands of the 2000s, and 2007’s Silent Treatment is a particularly high watermark in their back catalogue (and one of my favourite records of all time).
So, given this information, it wouldn’t surprise you to know how excited I was to hear of frontman James Muñoz relocating to Richmond, VA, some years ago and now fronting a (relatively) new outfit called Xed Out. The group’s latest full-length, No More Blue Skies, is out now, and it’s shimmering post-punk with a punk rock backbone and shades of gothic darkness—think Lifetime, Banner Pilot, and The Replacements meets Fucked Up and Alkaline Trio. Nothing but stellar songwriting, jangly riffs, and knock-out choruses. Highly recommended.
Stream here: Bandcamp | Spotify
ERRONEOUS BOTCH:
Last Wednesday, I hit the ground for a chat with Connie Sgarbossa from San Diego chaos merchants SeeYouSpaceCowboy during the Melbourne show of their debut Australian tour supporting labelmates Stick To Your Guns. We talked about finally getting the chance to play Down Under, opening for seminal acts like Poison The Well and Hopesfall, working with producer Matt Squire, Connie’s love for 2000s indie sleaze, and the eclectic thematic vision behind the band’s upcoming third album. Check it out below: