… why the heck am i writing this.

§§§ Split (1994) - Lush

{Shoegaze, England}

Okay, I don’t listen much to shoegaze; I’m listening to this album because of the track Light From a Dead Star. It turns out that shoegaze, if this band represents the scene well, is more rock-ish and postpunk-ish than I expected. Sometimes it’s hard to draw a line between this genres .. Maybe I need to listen more. It would be a charm if I’m to this one on tapes. Alas, I need to fix my cassette deck when I got the time…

Fav. tracks: {Light From A Dead Star, Hypocrite, Desire Lines}

btw. the music reminds me of the Antichrisis

§§§ yet another wave, killwave? First impression on Prayers

I came across the Cholo Goth" scene because of Kat von D, who married Rafael Reyes and bands with Dave Parley, aka. the Prayers. I have been kinda hooked. They are old school electro wave with some hip-hop. Prayers coined the concept Cholo goth. Not gonna dive into it as I have close to no knowledge of Latin American culture.

…

/// TODO: reviews of their albums

§§§ Holocaust over Dresden (2017) - Hak-Ed Damm

{black metal, Quebec}

https://www.metallerium.com/hak-ed-damm-interview-black-metal

Hak-Ed Damm: Absolutely not. We are not Nazis. When we used those terms, it was only to describe an evil reality that once was. Our opinion about politics in music is that it is bullshit, whatever side you are on. Moreover, T-34s were Red Army tanks that killed many Nazis…

Obviously the name “Holocaust over Dresden” is talking about the Bombing of Dresden towards the end of WWII. Sadly the neo-nazis take the memorial days (13–15 February) of the bombing for their propaganda because they see the tragedy as a “shame to their national pride”. Nevertheless I’m not gonna comment on Nationalstolz oder Nationalsozialismus here.

The music is very punk-ish. I especially enjoy the bass section - it’s jazzy and seems to be a fretless, extra groovy, extra brutal! One thing I don’t like though, is that some of the chord progression seems to be … too upright (like Usine de Mort)? Not saying melodic stuffs are bad but this kinda defeats the goal of, said the artist, being as brutal & terrifying as possible.

Overall, clean mixing, brutal tones, and AMAZING BASSIST.

§§§ Never Enough (2023) - Daniel Caesar

{R&B, Toronto}

Like what, I’m writting a review for a grammy winning artist? … Nah.

Honestly R&B per se is not quite my thing. I do, however, listen to chill music a lot – I mean, those “low-fi jazz” music…. And despite the “blues” name, this Daniel Caesar album feels more like jazz than blues to me.

Interestingly, I learned that “comtemporary R&B” and “R&B” (that I’m familiar with) are two different things.

Contemporary R&B (or simply R&B) is a popular music genre that combines rhythm and blues with elements of pop, soul, funk, hip hop, and electronic music. (wikipedia “Contemporary R&B”)

The R&B name actuall starts as a marketing term. And:

The term “rhythm and blues” has undergone a number of shifts in meaning. In the early 1950s, it was frequently applied to blues records. Starting in the mid-1950s, after this style of music had contributed to the development of rock and roll, the term “R&B” became used in a wider context. It referred to music styles that developed from and incorporated electric blues, as well as gospel and soul music. By the 1970s, the term “rhythm and blues” had changed once again and was used as a blanket term for soul and funk. wikipedia “R&B”

Now this is interesting because James Brown, Janet Jackson and Daniel Caesar sound nothing similar. And TIL when you talk about R&B you are actually talking about A VERY BROAD THING. Likewise for metal.

And woooh, Daniel Caesar is actually included in the “Contemporary R&B” wikipedia entry:

Streaming platforms and social media, particularly TikTok and Spotify, have amplified the reach of R&B music. Viral moments have catapulted songs like SZA’s “Snooze” and Daniel Caesar’s “Best Part (feat. H.E.R)” into global hits. [wikipedia “Contemporary R&B”]

Now back to the Daniel album

In some fancy words these are music that you “escape to”, when you want to feel disconnected.

Rememberable tracks

• Ocho Rios: nice guitar tone.
• Toronto 2014: cool vocals and chorus, a nice bass lick towards the end. I also like how they mix a acoustic guitar, a narrow band in the mid freq - it almost sounds like a crap toy guitar.. but blends in the vibe very well.
• Do You Like Me? : very cool baseline (I think fretless) from 2:54.
• Cool : 1:19 and 2:54 I like the low-freq synth here - it’s almost not there but heavy af.
• Unstoppable : funky bass and distorted drums.

In general I like the instrumentals more than vocals. I enjoy the basslines and synth in most of the tracks. As a hot take, in a few tracks (like Unstoppable and Ocho Rios) I kinda wish the vocal tracks were turned off, but this is heavily biased – I’m never really an audience of this kind of vocals. (I do enjoy the vocals in Toronto 2014, as said!)

btw, the vocal line of Toronto 2014 reminds of Rising Up by Brushy One String

---

§§§ on the radar & TODO

Hamilton (2015) - Lin-Manuel Miranda

{musical}

// TODO //

Glory and Perdition (2009) - Sear Bliss

{symphonic/melodic/atmospheric black metal, Hungary}

vsesvit (2020) - severoth

{Ambient/Atmospheric Black Metal, Dnipro (Ukraine)}
Ha, Dnipro is a magical place! I love the dnipropop scene (Kurs Valüt)! But that’s for another entry.

Coma (2024) - Gaerea

{Blacm Metal, Porto}

MISC
Phantom der Nacht - Vampyrsgard, {Black Metal, Spain}

§§§ War-themed black/death metal

NOTE: war-themed metal could be a neo-nazi brewery. I try my best to fact check that the bands are not actively promoting nazi ideologies. Also I try not to include the NSBM scene. I’m not gonna talk about my opinion on using nazi materials in music though, that’s for another lengthy post.

• Where Fear and Weapons Meet (2021) - 1914
• The Suns of Perdition - Chapter I:War,Horrid War (2019) - Panzerfaust
• Menschenmühle (2021) - Kanonenfieber
• Alpenpässe (2019) - Minenwerfer
• Turm am Hang (2017) - Horn
• Memorandum Occultus (2017) - The Committee
• Blood On Snow (2010) - Estern Front
• Kapitulation 2013 (2013) - Endstille
• Warlord (2020) - Panzerwar
• Kekrokrator (2023) - М8Л8ТХ
• Marcellin s’en va-t-en guerre (2016) - FT-17
• Panzer Metal (2010) - Negator
• Grebbeberg (2023) - Sammath

---

§ MISC

Vulture of Betrayal (2012) - Dark Path

What the heck is this? They are on spotify, apple music and amazon but there is zero information of them .. not on MA, not on Discogs, no one is talking about them and they have 0 play counts on spotify.. They don’t have bio on the said platforms either.. Anyways this is a lamb of god copy band. Production is decent, drum machine but well mixed, and I have to say they’ve done well in copying lamb of god. It’s not something exciting to listen to but it reminds me of my band back in high school. We were down the “new thrash” alley

I’m annoyed

I’m not a hate commenter, honestly I just skip when I encounter things I don’t like, but this one really annoys me. It’s a tiktok metal female duo. The only description I can think of is “cringe”. They have only “shorts” on their social media, and it’s not even “performance” to the slightest, just some tiktok lip-syncing and what those 快手精神小伙 would put it —- “卡点”.

And yes, they do have a distributor putting their shits on spotify. One track sounds kinda ok but it’s a copycat song.

Only writing this to rant a bit, not gonna say their name.

alt pop… what’s new?

There has been a surge of new generation of young musicians playing this “alt pop” thing. Dark themes, shocking culture, gothic …. DeathByRomy is just like a teen Marilyn Manson on tiktok. She is good, yes, I like the tunes. But I’m just saying, I don’t see anything new.