Weekly Roundup: January 31st
Featuring Honningbarna, Denzel Curry, Foreign Hands, and more.
MOSH PITHY:
A curated selection of cool shit for you to listen to.
Benny The Butcher – “Johnny P’s Caddy” (feat. J. Cole)
Buffalo emcee Benny The Butcher is back at it again and this time around it’s for the fourth instalment in his ongoing Tana Talk series, expected to be released later this year. After 2021’s exceptional Harry Fraud collab The Plugs I Met 2, I’m definitely looking forward to what Benny can bring on this latest project. And if lead single “Johnny P’s Caddy” is anything to go off—not to mention the lightning strike chemistry Benny brings to his pairing with J. Cole’s scorching guest feature—then it’s likely going to be one of the best rap records of 2022. Watch the single’s video below:
Honningbarna – Animorphs
I’ll be honest with you, I know very little about Kristiansand outfit Honningbarna. However, when I saw that the latest LP from these rowdy Norwegians was titled Animorphs, I just had to check it out. And thankfully, I was not disappointed. This album is full-throttle indie rock with an ear for sticky melodies and garage punk guitar lines. While I don’t understand any of the lyrics, with songs this catchy, it’s not really much of an issue. Stream the LP in full here (Spotify).
Greet Death – “Punishment Existence”
Michigan shoegazers Greet Death appear to be doing a stylistic about-face with their latest single, “Punishment Existence.” A pensive follow-up to pre-release singles “I Hate Everything” and “Your Love Is Alcohol,” the track finds the Flint quartet ruminating on existential dread and the weight of suffering over the top of fuzzed-out harmonies and delicate folk instrumentation that reminds me of early ‘00s Death Cab. It’s definitely a sad one but there’s something haunting and strangely comforting about their “blackened post-alt-country” soundscape. Listen to “Punishment Existence” here.
Clobber – Tribal Rites of the New Friday Night
UK hardcore bruisers Clobber (featuring ex-members of PINTS, 50 Caliber and War Crimes) have dropped their scorching debut EP. Paraphrasing the title of an infamous 1976 New York Magazine article-cum-work of fiction by British rock journalist Nik Cohn, Tribal Rites of the New Friday Night presents four tracks of pissed off, bare-knuckled hardcore punk, taking aim at everyone from pigheaded nationalists to conspiracy theorists, anti-vaxxers, and shameless ideologues. It rules. Stream the EP in full here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Choir Vandals – “Headlights On”
Choir Vandals’ Dark Glow LP was one of my most-played records of 2017 and in the years since I’ve been hanging out for the Missouri outfit to come through with new material. Thankfully, their latest single “Headlights On” hits that spot and so much more. It’s a patient indie-pop number gloriously drenched in twinkling backing synths, plaintive acoustic strumming, and guitarist/vocalist Austin McCutchen’s yearning croon. Listen to “Headlights On” here.
Foreign Hands – Bleed The Dream
If you could suck out the formula for the perfect metalcore record from my overstuffed brain, it would sound exactly like the concussive assault of Bleed the Dream (out February 18th through DAZE), the forthcoming EP from Delaware quintet Foreign Hands. Fronted by current Wristmeetrazor guitarist Tyler Norris? Check. Production from former Weekend Nachos member Andy Nelson? Check. Songwriting credit from Knocked Loose mastermind Isaac Hale? Check. Cover artwork that recalls turn-of-the-millennium From Autumn To Ashes, Finch and Glassjaw? Check. An aural profile that sounds like Tear From The Red meets Jhazmyne’s Lullaby? Sign me the fuck up for all of the above. Stream the EP’s pre-release single here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Denzel Curry – “Walkin”
I just couldn’t get enough of 2019’s ZUU, so knowing that Florida rap god Denzel Curry is back on the cut with the impending release of his fifth studio album, Melt My Eyez, See Your Future, is a welcome relief. Pre-release single “Walkin” pitches a woozy vocal sample against a booming old-school beat, providing the perfect landscape for Curry’s lyrical introspection and thick ‘n’ fast bars. I personally can’t wait to see what Zeltron has up his sleeve for LP#5. Watch the futuristic, desert clan, Kurosawa-aping video for “Walkin” below:
Bad Suns – Apocalypse Whenever
It’s always weird to find a new band and suddenly realise that they’ve been around for years, flying under your usually attentive musical radar. Such is the case with Californian quartet Bad Suns. Prior to the release of their fourth album, Apocalypse Whenever, I’d never heard of the Epitaph Records signees. And while it seems that their apparent stylistic shifts have irked some old heads, for me, that’s not really of concern. Mainly because this record is pure nostalgic pop done with a marked ‘80s flair and bright, lush touches. And look, we can always use more of that. Stream the LP in full here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Listen to all these tracks and more on the TPD 2022 TUNES playlist, updated weekly.
HEAVY METTLE:
A closer, more in-depth look at a new record that ticks all my boxes.
Cloakroom – Dissolution Wave
On their latest record, Cloakroom posit a cosmology of high stakes for the artist: “An act of theoretical physics—the Dissolution Wave—wipes out all of humanity’s existing art and abstract thought. In order to keep the world spinning on its axis, songsmiths must fill the ether with their compositions. Meanwhile, the Spire and Ward of Song act as a filter for human imagination: Only the best material can pass through the filter and keep the world turning.”
With this motivation in mind, the Indiana fuzz merchants get to work on their most urgent collection of material to date, where dreamy space rock and kaleidoscopic shoegaze slowly coalesce across 37 intricately crafted minutes. In the world of Dissolution Wave, each compositional element acts as both a risk and an asset. No riff is too massive, no transition too muddy; each quaking turn into an abyss of existential ambience is utterly essential. The album’s cosmology practically demands it and the price for failure is paid in oblivion.
For example, take driving album opener “Lost Meaning.” Here, frontman/guitarist Doyle Martin assumes the position of the album’s protagonist—a lonely asteroid miner—asking: “Do you hear me and the echo of it all/ With no feeling?” It’s the artist who can give birth to their own aesthetic Big Bang, conjuring a daring new universe into existence. And against this totalizing picture of the world, vividly represented through churning reverb and delicate atmospherics, Cloakroom appeal to a higher calling, as the fate of humankind hangs in the balance.