Days 736205-736570

Imbecile childish writing about good music

Same deal as last year - This list focus on 2017 releases that in my opinion didn't got the headlines they deserved. I see absolutely no reason for another list of "I like this and that and that" which eventually is just another generic list with the same names you see again and again in different rankings. 

Oxbow, PigsX7, Brainbombs, Godflesh, Vagabon, Endon, Woe, Unsane, Ragana, Fäulnis, Circle, Stupeflip, Gnod, Pissed Jeans, Jute Gyte, and that list carries on and on.. and you've all heard them, or saw their name shines in so many lists, so why the hell would you need another one to do that ?

Last year's list was pretty huge, I've tried to do this one much shorter, because a lack of time and will to write so much. For some convenience and order I've written it in four parts.

There is no particular order, enjoy

Mind Rippers

 Los Angeles, California
Behavior were the first one on last year's list so I thought it'll be appropriate for their sophomore to be on this one too. Much like their debut, here's another arty post punk effort, this time a bit more mellow and less aggressive than before, but still tensed.

 Bolton, England
"English Martyrs is Total Victory’s version Grotesque by The Fall in that the songs make up a portrait of the country. In contrast to that album, the pulp acid horror is dialled down and replaced by an ever greater sense of social commentary and cutting observational humour."

 New Haven, Connecticut
I've became pretty obsessed with Stefan's music since last year. Once again his magical work fully got me. 21st century bard, flirting lo-fi noise with folk rock.

 Louisville, Kentucky
Heavy contemporary post punk wrapped wisely with many industrial metal hints and electronic nuances.

 Manchester, England
An eclectic post industrial masterpiece, absorbed with dark ambient, electronics and classical chamber music to create one of the best "non-rock" albums I've heard. A beautiful bleak, crippling soundscape of a dystopian urban future.

 Brest, France
Sounds as if Lucrate Milk were relocating to new york and trying to play like Teenage Jesus And The Jerks. Great crazy punk-no wave mutation.

 Melbourne, Australia
Somewhere on the line between Einstürzende Neubauten and Author & Punisher, hypnotizing doom industrial noise.

 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
This project's band members come from varied groups, who sounds nothing like what they created together, neither does this sounds like nothing else I can think of. This was a pretty hard to digest album, the music is rough, chaotic, densed and tensed, barely leaves you headroom to breath. Unique avantgarde psychotic rock.

 Schaffhausen, Switzerland
Even better than their last year's demo, what a leap forward. Better sound, more originality, well thought album. The pissed off post hardcore/noise rock is now added by very gentle pseudo-electronic guitar noises and effects on various places adding a lot to the general atmosphere, which is an unusual mutation of Unwound and Born Against.

 Marseille, France
Two french witches mixing in their cauldron post punk with ultra-sludgy gloomy distorted bass, and a pinch of occult vibes.

 Manchester, England
Here's a hidden gem to give you a break between all the noise. With such a brilliant name comes a brilliant album. A semi-cabaretic art rock collective with various global folk tendencies, an intense brit version of The Angels of Light (which they cover).

 Austin, Texas
King Coffey-Craige Clouse-Nate Cross [Butthole Surfers-Shit And Shine-Todd-When Dinosaurs Rules The Earth] - This should be enough, right ? Texan Ultra-sludge noise rock exactly like you expect from the above mentioned guys. With their cover of L.A. they make The Fall sounds like The Bangles.

 Athens, Greece
Another fine Riot Season release is this debut, presenting everything that's on the minefield border between noise rock and metal.

 Melbourne, Australia
What a blast by this aussie trio, more communicative than their early releases but still heavy as fuck. This album starts a bit generic but keep evolving until it peaks in the second half, blending massive sludge stoner sound with garage punk aesthetics.

 Lyon, France
Chevignon are active for more than a decade but that's the first time I've heard them.. what a bizzare and interesting album this is, western film/surf/metal/prog punk I donnu, a bit Oxbow attitude, a bit 16 Horsepower, at times as if East Bay Ray is playing guitar, and at times a bit of french black metal comes shivering in.

 Birmingham, England
What is called "drone doom tuba" is an incredible album, which gives an important lesson in how to create so much emotions and detailed environment with such minimal, but intelligent playing and instrumentation. Half the album is only main guy Sam Underwood with basic percussion and the second half is collaborations, each with a taste of it's own.

 Rotterdam, Netherlands
Very short and tight fast tempo noisy post punk release by this young dutch trio, done completely by the book.

 Reims, France
Brutal and intense noise rock/post hardcore trio, not for the fainthearted. Frenzy as Jesus Lizard or Dazzling Killmen and heavy as Godflesh.

 Athens, Greece
A unique mixture of post punk, moody post rock a-la Shipping News, some mid-era Sonic Youth, yet somehow, manages to be accessible for all ears despite the rawness. The final mix is a bit problematic, since some instruments are laid too much in the back, but still this great album got me good this year.

 Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Lina's debut album is undoubtedly my favorite folk/indie rock album. Beautiful piece with minimal instrumentation and dreamy melancholic feeling made by her sort of lazy mumble-singing.

 Milwaukee, Wisconsin
My winner for best punk album is this Rorschach rapes Minor Threat, and since they're Milwaukee folks it won't be a sin to namedrop Die Kreuzen somewhere in between.

In case you somehow have enough time and want more, here's what would probably be on this list if I'd made it lengthy as last year's:
San Leo, Dodge Meteor, Orchestra Of Constant Distress, Artús, BUZZØØKO, IDYLLS, Wailin Storms, SIDA, Blank square, Mnemotechnic, Una Bèstia Incontrolable, Vom, Diploid, A Shape, Dasher, Postižená Oblast, Overdoes Support, And Yet It Moves, Yowie, Lucas Hercberg, FÄR, Chicaloyoh, NAARC, USA Nails, Carnero, Tombouctou, Legendary Divorce, LLEROY, Fatalists, Death Stuff, Human Future, P.E.A.R.L., ......

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Metal

First three releases are EP's released on tapes by a new interesting swedish label, Cirsium Kollektivet. I can only presume some of these titles share the same members, due to similar sound and general concept, but there's not much info about them.

 Gothenburg, Sweden

The modern sophistication of Lifelover, the raw primitivism of Silencer, and the Joyless/Forgotten Woods sound. The frenetic depression of all three.

 Berlin, Germany
Manic driven black metal, with swedish roots, and Lugubrum-like bizarre tendencies. Also released an album in the end of the last year, which definitely deserved to be on my last if I've heard it back than in real time.

 Berlin, Germany
The weirdest one among these three, morbid, frantic piece which shifts on and off between ultra-raw grim black metal and "clean" yet disturbing psychedelic parts similar to Todesstoß.

 London, England
Experimental post doom metal, featuring african tribal drums, saxophone and violin.. loaded with Hawkwind's repetitive psychedelic vibes. Yeah... that's right.

 Tarnowskie Góry, Poland
Bombastic and epic long debut of these Godflesh worshipers, with a bit more sludgy attitude Electrozombies like.

 Ähtäri, Finland
Creative existential dark metal, sort of a mix between Forgotten Tomb and Barathrum, with many other stuff you can hear in, for instance the tribal drums and harsh vocals remind me of Amebix' metallic parts.

 Copenhagen, Denmark
Last couple of years there's a circle of brutal death metal bands operating in the danish kingdom, creating some of the filthiest most disgusting rotting music I've heard in a while. Same vocalist also vomits words in Phrenelith.

 Mérida, Mexico
Excellent raw black metal with sound mix that I rarely get to hear, putting the thick but leading bassline in front, and the guitar is laid back giving some hazy feeling while playing twisted riffs.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Short Stuff

 Seattle, Washington

Semi-industrial post punk duo in the vein of contemporary stuff like Liars, So Pitted, The Garden with winks for classics like early Killing Joke.

 Olympia, Washington
Perfect minimalistic modern interpretation for NY noise rock, Sonic Youth, Ritual Tension.

London, England
Post mortem release experimenting everything through post rock, post hardcore, screamo, emo, metal, post whatever you want it to be.

Leeds, England
Two years after their superb sophomore, these twitchy noise rockers are back with a new EP, reviving what Jesus Lizard were doing in the 90's.

Rome, Italy
Vicious and pissed hardcore punk, as raw as an obscure 80's japanese demo can be.

Oslo, Norway
Insanely good and out of control hardcore punk with some surf touches, but not in the lame retro way, unstoppable machine and a sick vocalist.

 Warsaw, Poland
Newcoming group with two demos released this year summing up at around 15 minutes featuring powerful noise rock/screamo.

Stockholm, Sweden
I missed their debut EP last year, and since they have no bandcamp nor soundcloud to share their new one, Call of The Wind, here's a recent live session they recorded. Scumbag post punk/noise garage/blues, from their native forefathers Brainbombs to The Amazing Snakeheads.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Local Swamp

The Walkers. Debut album by this new unconventional group, experimental "root" rock, as in, israeli tribal music. Alon Ovnat is responsible for the trance-like middle-eastern guitar playing while being backed by the steady rock percussive drums-bass section. Vadim Meskin's hallucinative trumpet and Gavriel Ben Horin's poetic spoken word-chanting takes everything to another level.

Gentle As A Washing Machine And Beautiful As Meningitis. Raw, unpleasant, minimalistic and repetitive noise duo of guitar and drums, inspired by Les Chants de Maldoror.

In contrast to her first two full lengths, the new ep by Zoe Polanski keeps a gentle primitive lo-fi bedroom sound, giving her dreamy music much more intimate feeling, akin to her live performance.

Lo-fi demo by young bass-drums duo, playing noisy doom punk/old school extreme metal, slow songs Flipper/early Melvins/Hellhammer aesthetics.

Experimentalist veterans trio creating free form noise rock improvisations, long, harsh, painful.

Top shelf psychedelic sludge doom metal, meditative demo which was recorded two years ago, featuring only two songs. They call it a demo, although I find the sound suits their music perfectly, seems like it was well thought before recorded.

Also liked, but didn't got to hear them much: Östra Tron, Diekvar, Meitalela, Kill All Unicorns, Daniel Kiczales

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Thank you for reading

Support The Music You Enjoy