MOSH PITHY:
A curated selection of cool shit for you to listen to.
Kenny Hoopla – “hollywood sucks//”
After taking the lead on production for the likes of Machine Gun Kelly and Mod Sun, elder sticksmen Travis Barker handles this pop-punk gem for American singer, songwriter, and rapper Kenny Hoopla. It sounds like something ripped straight from a Warper Tour CD sampler circa 2003, with a super sticky chorus, a simple bridge refrain, and plenty of lightning-fast fills and hi-hat action. Watch the L.A.-hating video for “hollywood sucks//” below:
Slant – 1집
One of the best things about doing this newsletter is finding cool underground shit from around the world and then telling you people about it. Enter Slant from South Korea. The newest LP from the Seoul quintet, 1집, is nothing but pure hardcore-punk fury, blitzing through ten tracks in a whirlwind sixteen minutes. It’s searing, it’s super fun, and it makes me want to mosh at my desk while writing this. Stream the LP here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Mastodon – “Forged By Neron”
I had no idea about the DC Comics’ Dark Nights: Death Metal soundtrack project, out June 18th through Loma Vista and executive produced by composer Tyler Bates (responsible for scores from Guardians of the Galaxy, John Wick, and more), but the idea of a new Mastodon cut certainly had me curious. “Forged By Neron” has the feel of a long lost Crack the Skye B-side: soaring melodies, driving riffage, and psych-rock transitions. Listen to “Forged By Neron” here.
Control System – Burning Money for Warmth
There’s an urban legend about the performance art duo K Foundation, who reportedly burned cash one million pounds sterling in a disused boathouse on the Scottish island of Jura in 1994. Tampa’s Control System take that approach and make it their defining ethos on the chaotic, cinderblock heavy three-track, Burning Money for Warmth. This is unhinged metalcore with plenty of chugs, discordant time signatures, and misanthropic lyricism. Stream the full EP here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Clowns – “Does It Matter?”
Melbourne punk-rockers Clowns are back with their latest full-throated banger. Acting as the band’s first taste of new music since 2019’s ARIA-nominated Nature / Nurture LP, “Does It Matter?” is a bright and bubbly power-pop track that swings along on jangly leads, punchy drum work, and the sweet vocal interplay between frontman Stevie Williams and bassist Hanny J Tilbrook. Listen to the single here.
Hooded Menace – The Tritonus Bell
Man, I’m so excited for this new Hooded Menace record. Just look at it. That beautiful album cover? Comes courtesy of art legend Wes Benscoter (Slayer, AC/DC) and it’s some real spooky, He-Man-but-actually-evil shit. That promo photo? Pulled from the annals of great Scandinavian metal photoshoot tropes. Moss-covered rocks? Check. Long hairs posing with hard stares and leather jackets? Check. And the lead single from The Tritonus Bell (out August 27 through Season of Mist)? Nine minutes of crushing, gauntlet-raising death-doom with ‘80s flair. Stream the album’s pre-release single here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Foxing – “Go Down Together”
“Go Down Together” isn’t your typical Foxing cut. It’s both urgent and unassuming, unfolding itself over three patient minutes. However, once it picks up, the warbling synth backbone and glittering production help to strike the difference between Modest Mouse and hey-day Death Cab For Cutie, a sonic combination that will always have my attention. Watch the video below:
Worn – Human Work
Answering the age-old question of “What would a curb-stomp feel like?”, Wilkes-Barre outfit Worn deliver a grimy collection of Merauder-influenced hardcore jams on their debut LP, Human Work. With glorious retro art design and a completely no-frills approach, it’s a real treat for fans of riffy, down and dirty, fist-pumping metallic hardcore. Just stay off the concrete. Stream the pre-release singles here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Listen to all these tracks and more on the TPD 2021 VIBING playlist, updated weekly.
HEAVY METTLE:
A closer, more in-depth look at a new record that ticks all my boxes.
Hundreds of AU – Acting From Remote Satellites
Screamo as a music genre is undoubtedly protean, being endlessly mutable, fluid, erratic, and timelessly political. It’s a collective outburst of vicious malcontent manifested through pain and unadulterated rage; forces too strong to be contained lest they suddenly erupt in violent and often destructive ways.
It makes sense then that, rather than bottle up this volatile energy, forcing it to collapse inwards on itself like the dense primordial core of a black hole, Hundreds of AU project their simmering discontent forever outward, scanning the vast expanse of space through swathes of delayed guitar lines, particle collider percussion, and the harsh cacophony of discombobulated voices.
On their latest full-length LP, Acting From Remote Satellites, the New Jersey four-piece take the myriad modulations of the screamo revival and fuse them into their own brand of Hum-inflected post-hardcore, landing somewhere between the emotional hand-wringing of Touché Amoré, the frantic immediacy of Loma Prieta, and the stellar cartography of Hopesfall.
This ten-track album continues their penchant for retro-futuristic artwork, philosophically loaded song titles, and features lyrics that tackle systemic inequalities, the products of human misery, and the dangers of circular thinking. To pluck a phrase from the ether: “Better out than in.”
Stream here: Bandcamp | YouTube
ERRONEOUS BOTCH:
Links to some of my other published work across the Web. Take a look, share if you feel like it, and help a brother out.
Well, folks, it’s been a busy week. I published an interview with Nashville hardcore/sludge trio Yautja over at New Noise. I talked with bassist and vocalist Kayhan Vaziri about surviving stagnation and their furious new record, The Lurch. Check that out here.
I also had a bunch of film reviews published for Exclaim!: Enfant Terrible is a German biopic that paints a painful picture of famed punk provocateur, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and Bloodthirsty attempts a modern twist on familiar werewolf tropes… with mixed results.
I brought back my “Yesterday’s Jukebox” column after a brief hiatus to pore over the discography of New Jersey post-hardcore legends Thursday. It’s a fun list of tracks that really made me appreciate how essential seminal LP’s like Full Collapse and War All The Time were to my formative young emo experience. Check out the full retrospective piece here.
Lastly, I’ve been smashing the new Fiddlehead album, Between The Richness. If you’re a fan of bands like Have Heart and Basement, or genres like emotive indie and punk rock, then you should really check this one out. I wax philosophical about the record’s existential meditations on aging, adulthood, life and death, and you can read all that heady stuff here.