Weekly Roundup: March 28th
Featuring Neutrals, Dance Gavin Dance, Beabadoobee, and more.
MOSH PITHY:
A curated selection of cool shit for you to listen to.
Beabadoobee – “Talk”
Indie darling Beabadoobee has returned with a new single from her forthcoming sophomore album. “Talk” is the first sample from Beatopia (out July 15th via Dirty Hit), the follow-up to her full-length debut, 2020’s Fake It Flowers, and it comes with a super fun Luke Casey–directed video featuring Beabadoobee’s close friends and 150 lucky fans. On the song itself, the London-based guitarist, vocalist and songwriter states:
“Generally, it’s about doing things that aren’t necessarily healthy or great for you, but you can’t help indulging. It’s like that unavoidable feeling that you get. You can’t get rid of it, and you know it’s bad, but you love it really, and its whatever, so you do it anyways.”
Watch the video for “Talk” below:
Malignant Aura – Abysmal Misfortune Is Draped Upon Me
With a big ol’ death-doom hard-on for acts like Paradise Lost, Incantation, Hooded Menace, and My Dying Bride, Aussie metallers Malignant Aura are prepping to drop their debut album on May 31st through Bitter Loss Records. The cheerfully titled Abysmal Misfortune is Draped Upon Me is billed as “a sombre reflection on the spectral and corporeal aspects of the human struggle.” Fun stuff. Expect churning riffs, sad melodies, and an overall bummer vibe (in a good way though). Stream the LP’s pre-release singles here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Bare Bones – “House of Static”
Sydney bruisers have come out swinging with a brand new single, the hard-rocking “House of Static.” The track follows the release of last year’s “Ivory Dusk” and features the band ruminating on their decade-long riff worship. I’ve always been a big fan of their Cancer Bats meets He Is Legend energy, and I thought their catchy-as-fuck sophomore LP, 2019’s Rival Minds, deserved a lot more love and recognition. Listen to “House of Static” here.
Graywave – Rebirth
Another sterling edition to the indomitable Church Road Records roster, UK shoegaze and dream-pop act Graywave openly explores the liberation of ethereal soundscapes. On their upcoming five-track EP, Rebirth (out June 24th), mastermind Jess Webberley takes things in a darker sonic direction, mixing influences as broad as Cocteau Twins and Drop Nineteens with the more oblique pop sensibilities of Citizen. Stream the EP’s pre-release singles here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Neutrals – “Gary Borthwick Says”
Resurrecting the sound of classic post-punk and the early-to-mid ‘80s UK underground, Neutrals peddle the kind of jangly indie-punk that'll have folks in Glasgow tripping over themselves to smash pints on foreheads. (I mean, their incredible 2019 album was called Kebab Disco if that's any indication as to what I'm talking about here.) “Gary Borthwick Says,” the lead single from their recent four-track EP, Bus Stop Nights, is a bright little ditty about that one dude at the pub who talks a big game and everyone knows is completely full of shite. Listen to “Gary Borthwick Says” here.
Spy & Maniac – Split 7-inch
I was a massive fan of Habitual Offender, the 2021 EP from California wrecking ball SPY, so when I saw they dropped a new split 7-inch a few weeks ago, I jumped on it straight away. And, as expected, this thing absolutely rips and is a total face-melting blitz of fast, in-your-face, old school hardcore punk. East Coast powerhouse Maniac also bring two tracks of pain on the back-end, making the entire split a gnarly good time. Stream the split here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Dance Gavin Dance – “Synergy” feat. Rob Damiani
Post-hardcore staple Dance Gavin Dance have released “Synergy,” the lead single from their as-yet-unannounced tenth album, which also includes a delightful guest feature from Rob Damiani of UK tourmates Don Broco. I’ve always had a lot of respect for what DGD do and, in my humble opinion, their Tilian-era output is easily their best work. With the welcome addition of Eidola frontman Andrew Wells on rhythm guitar, I’m sure we can expect ample intricate noodling on LP#10. Watch the totally weird, desert steampunk video for “Synergy” below:
Nothing In Between – S/T
I came across the outstanding Brazilian quintet Nothing In Between thanks to the good folks over at No Echo, and I’m very grateful for the discovery. As their Bandcamp profile puts it, the melodic hardcore outfit is “for fans of Shai Hulud, Misery Signals, Comeback Kid,” and they share “discontent with the world [expressed] through emotions and melody.” Goddamn, I feel seen. Stream the band’s self-titled 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.
Soul Glo – Diaspora Problems
It’s a well-worn cliche to say that hardcore should always be dangerous. And if that isn’t necessarily true or achievable on a metaphysical level, then it should at least feel like it is. For me, the genre and subculture have always rested on the phenomenology of catharsis—and yeah, I know that sounds like old Greek shit (and it is), but it’s also very much a real thing.
Hardcore is a spiritual bloodletting of bad vibes, the purgation of pent-up energy, the frenzied free-for-all of frustration. It’s the raw, ephemeral intensity of the mosh pit, the shit that makes those little hairs stand up on the back of your neck because everything might go to shit at a moment’s notice. That’s what ultimately makes the entire pursuit threatening and exhilarating: the means to explode and the will to push the button.
On their phenomenal fourth album Diaspora Problems, Soul Glo turn hardcore punk into a heteroglossic block party. Opener “Gold Chain Punk” bristles with livewire frontman Pierce Jordan’s feral refrain (“Can I live?!”), almost singlehandedly daring the universe to step up and beat his ass. From here, the LP swings wildly between snarling screeds fixated on cultural appropriation and societal injustice (“Coming Correct Is Cheaper”; “The Thangs I Carry”), to booming hip-hop beats and freestyle flow (“Driponomics”; “Spiritual Level of Gang Shit”). The Philly outfit also aren’t afraid to serve up a smooth synth-wave fake-out (“(Five Years And) My Family)”), death metal guttural (“Fucked Up If True”) or bright bursts of horns (“Thumbsucker”) to get their point across, either. Hammers and nails, problems and solutions.
I also don’t think it’s entirely an accident that the same band that proudly use the n-word in their release titles, and who successfully crowdfunded bail requirements after a questionable 2018 arrest, made sure to include a copy of Audre Lorde’s I Am Your Sister on the album’s candle-lit vigil cover. A famous anti-homophobia, anti-racism pamphlet calling for organized political action among Black/POC communities, many of Lorde’s words could easily stand in for Jordan’s cutting lyricism and socio-political commentary:
“We cannot afford to waste each other’s energies in our common battles…. How do we organize around our differences, neither denying them nor blowing them up out of proportion?”