Five & Five on Friday 6/16/23
Micro Reviews, Revived!
Happy Friday! Congratulations on making it to the end of the week. As you head into your weekend, here are five recommendations and then five micro reviews of albums from my high school CD collection. Maybe you’ll find something new to read, listen to, or do this weekend. See you next week!
On June 29th I’m playing drums for Dan Rico at Rubulad in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Dan and I started playing together in last fall after being introduced by a mutual friend from Chicago. Dan plays and has played in a bunch of different projects, but this set is the live debut of a new set of solo tunes that combine his garage rock swagger with jazz harmony and hard hitting Latin grooves. If you’re the kind of person that likes actually dancing at shows, you shouldn’t miss this one.
The Human Instrumentality Podcast is back! My cohost Joseph Schafer and I decided to retire our Patreon (we’re both way too busy) and release our backlog of bonus episodes to the public. So far we’ve dropped two hot new eps, one about Jojo Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders and one about Satoshi Kon’s Magnetic Rose, which I argue invented the whole “A24-core” aesthetic way back in the 1990s. There are even more cool episodes coming down the pipe, so subscribe now!
I found this essay from Components analyzing vinyl sales on Bandcamp fascinating. I don’t quite agree with all of their conclusions, personally I think scarcity/exclusivity play a bigger role than they acknowledge, but the broad strokes of their argument are very compelling. If you’re up for wading through a lot of McLuhan/Dewy media theory and big graphs I’d highly recommend giving it a read.
Last week during New York City’s sudden descent into smoke-screened bedlam my roommate Ashna Ali wrote this stirring personal reflection on living with chronic illness through increasingly precedented apocalyptic times. Since we’re likely not done with the long term effects of the Canadian wildfires, I’d encourage you to give it a read.
I try not to place too much value on album anniversaries. Time marches on, so what? However, last weekend I found myself surprisingly moved when I learned that Deafheaven’s Sunbather turned 10 years old. I will have lots and lots to say about this album in Drumming Upstream soon enough, but until then my hat goes off to Jay Papandreas for drawing out the album’s quintessentially Californian qualities. It’ll take a lot to top his work, but I’m up for the challenge.
Now, onto the five micro reviews. Long time Lamniformes Instagram followers will recognize these from my stories back in late 2020, however they’ve been re-edited and spruced up with links so that you can actually hear the music instead of just taking my word for it.
Reise, Reise by Rammstein (2004) - Industrial Rock
I listened to this one a ton during the transit strike in high school. I remember liking at the time that it was more of a “rock” album than their older, more obviously dance-oriented stuff. I’m warmer on Rammstein’s club-going side these days, but thIs holds up! The drums are nasty and there’s a lot of individual character to each track. A shame that some of the band members let some real shady individuals hang around them these days.
The Downward Spiral by Nine Inch Nails (1994) - Industrial Rock
“Borrowed” this CD from my friend Preston in 7th grade. It’s been a staple for me ever since. The Downward Spiral is a psychosexual nightmare framed as half rave, half rock show. Trent Reznor shows an absurd attention to detail and some of his greatest songwriting on this album. An all time fav.
Sub by Apollyon Sun (2000) - Industrial Rock
Bought this shortly after getting Celtic Frost, whose singer started this project up after the band fell apart in the late 1980s. Sub is an uninspired mix of heavy metal and late 90s electronica. It has not aged well. Avoid.
Systematic Chaos by Dream Theater (2007) - Progressive Metal
The first Dream Theater album I bought upon its release, at the peak of my music school aspirations at the end of high school. I loved it as a teen, but these days? Not so much. Too much radio rock chasing and try-hard heaviness. “In The Presence of Enemies”, the two part epic that opens and closes the record, still slaps though.
Team Sleep by Team Sleep (2005) - Alternative Rock
A Deftones side project with Rob Crow (Pinback) and Zach Hill (Hella/Death Grips) on drums. I thought it was forgettable when I first bought it in high school, but listening to it now I’m surprised by how many of these songs I remembered but had filed away as Deftones tracks. Clearly it had a more lasting effect on me than I knew, and it was way better than I expected on a revisit. Cool record!