Weekly Roundup: March 18th
Featuring La Dispute, Stateside, Going Off, and more.
MOSH PITHY:
A curated selection of cool shit for you to listen to.
SOFT PLAY – “Mirror Muscles”
UK ruffians SOFT PLAY (formerly known as the unfortunately named Slaves) have dropped a cheeky new song, and this one is dedicated to all the gym lads out there. It’s got a big swollen guitar riff and a rap-inflected vocal line that name-drops different supplements and bodybuilding royalty. As the duo states:
“We love to work out. We frequent the local gymnasium. These are some thoughts we had while we were there.“
Yeah, look, we’ve all been there, fellas. Fair play. Watch the video for “Mirror Muscles” below:
DVNE – Voidkind
I first came across Edinburgh metallers DVNE back in 2021 off the release of their Etemen Ænka LP. The quintet blend together a bunch of spacey textured sounds—post-metal, doom, post-rock, progressive, etc.—in a captivating way, and I’ve since been hanging out for some new material. Well, that day has arrived, and the group’s full-length follow-up, Voidkind, drops on April 19th through Metal Blade Records. “Long live the Kwisatz Haderach.” Stream the LP’s pre-release singles here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Going Off – “Feed” (feat. Knuckledust)
UK hardcore is on an absolute fucking tear right now, and Going Off have been front-and-centre of that piss’n’vinegar vanguard for years. After dropping their Church Road Records debut and follow-up Kill List EP last year, the Manchester bruisers are warming up for LP#2 and teasing another slew of aggressive, pissed-off ragers and I, for one, can’t wait. Listen to the band’s latest single, “Feed,” featuring Pelbu of Knuckledust here.
La Dispute – Here, Hear IV
Grand Rapids post-hardcore/emo purveyors La Dispute have been releasing new material for a while now through their fan-funded Patreon. While the eight tracks contained on Here, Hear IV aren’t necessarily “new,” they do function as the group’s most recent release. If you’re after a sincere and intentional slice of spoken word, poetry, and plaintive instrumental soundscapes, then this is for you. (MewithoutYou heads everywhere are sure to be stoked.) Stream the EP in full here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Stateside – “Since Last Season”
I featured Stateside in the newsletter last year for the release of their It’s What We Do EP. That record leant heavily on a mid-2000s pop-punk nostalgia mixed with melodic hardcore tendencies, and this direction continues on the band’s most recent single for New Morality Zine. “Since Last Season” finds the Californian five-piece incorporating some alternative sounds, with art direction from Heavenward mastermind Kamtin Mohager. It’s great. Listen here.
Paprika – Let’s Kill Punk
Here’s some snotty, clench-fisted noise punk from New Orleans. They’re called Paprika, and their latest record (out March 29th through Iron Lung Records) is cheekily titled Let's Kill Punk. There’s also a press blurb that perfectly sums up this vibe:
“Do you ever sit in your room and just stare at the wall, repeating a mantra to yourself? Because it’s all you can do to not totally wreck everything in sight? We do that, too, and most of the music that’s playing sounds like this PAPRIKA record. This is their mantra: ‘Destroying Shit… Ruining Lives…’ To be repeated over and over while digesting this deliberately paced rampaging hardcore punk record.”
Stream the LP’s pre-release singles here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
The Early November – “What We Earn”
The Early November have been kicking around since the early 2000s, but the group—now a duo comprised of band leader Ace Enders and drummer Jeff Krummer—have only fired back up in earnest for the last few years. Their forthcoming self-titled LP follows 2019’s Lilac and was born from the frustration of, according to Enders, “feeling like you’re doing the same thing over and over again.” While their previous single “About Me” skewed towards Clarity-era Jimmy Eat World, this latest one finds them hitting that Underoath-adjacent posthardcore sweet spot. Watch the music video for “What We Earn” below:
Black Tusk – The Way Forward
I remember hearing Black Tusk in the late 2000s when bands like Baroness, Mastodon and Kylesa were popularizing a particular kind of Southern-inflected sludge metal. While the Savannah, Georgia quartet have been inactive for a number of years, they’re back in full swing with a new line-up and new record in tow. The Way Forward drops on April 26th through Season of Mist and will be overflowing with bluesy licks, swampy riffs and bulldozer rhythms. 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.
Gouge Away – Deep Sage
On their latest LP, Floridian hardcore punk outfit Gouge Away are all about change. Recorded completely analog and almost entirely live with Jack Shirley at Atomic Garden East, there’s a rawness to the instrumentals on Deep Sage (out now through Deathwish Inc.) that perfectly complements Christina Michelle’s vocal dynamics.
Faster tracks like “No Release” and “The Sharpening” burst and swell with rapid tempo changes and frenetic drum blasts as Michelle’s caustic wail turns every venomous lyric into an adrenaline spike. Yet, for every moment of urgent and abrasive emotional tension, Deep Sage tempers this mood with restraint, embracing whirling fuzz and delicate melodies.
Case in point: the hypnotic sprawl of the six-minute album closer, “Dallas,” written during an introspective moment of rock-bottom clarity and fallout from reckless behaviour. As Michelle puts it: “When I realized behaving this way was hurting people who loved me, it made me recognize that I had to change, if not for myself, then for them.”
Stream here: Bandcamp | Spotify
ERRONEOUS BOTCH:
After blowing the lid off their sold-out Melbourne headline show last week, Movements frontman Patrick Miranda joined The Pitch pod to talk about all things New Bloom festival. We chat about their love for coming Down Under, the whirlwind success of their acclaimed third LP, RUCKUS!, drawing creative inspiration from Bring Me The Horizon, and their bond with Canadian world-tourmates Softcult. Check it out below: