Fives on Friday 1/12/2024
Hard rock Bowie, unnecessary art, and post rock for a normal day
Happy Friday! Congratulations on making it to the end of the week. As you head into your weekend, here are five recommendations, five track reviews, and five album micro reviews. Access to these curated links and tunes will only cost you your time and five pieces of self-promotion. Maybe you’ll find something new to read, listen to, or do this weekend. See you next week!
» » » » » GET REC’D « « « « «
I fully support Zachary Lipez’s ongoing efforts to expand the definition of the phrase “pop-punk” beyond the limits of the Blinks and Green Days of the world. I’d never heard of Riverboat Gamblers, the latest of subject of Lipez’s record correcting, but this piece makes an excellent case for their reconsideration. Not only are his arguments thought provoking for any amateur musicologists, Lipez is also wickedly funny.
As you could probably tell from my best of 2023 list, I listened to a lot of Liturgy last year. You can imagine then how quickly I opened a tab for this interview with Haela Ravenna Hunt-Hendrix on Tone Glow, in which she talks candidly about the reception of The Arc Work, and how the band’s reputation has changed since. Also cool to read her reference both Converge and Brahms as core influences. That’s about as good of a “x+y=z” combo that I can imagine for Liturgy.
One of the first rap albums I really got into in my file sharing days was Vaudevile Villain, an MF DOOM album released under his alter-alter-alter ego Viktor Vaughn, so I appreciated this zoom-in on the song “Let Me Watch” by Patrick Lyons in his new series, “The All Timers”. I wouldn’t rate this song a 10/10 myself, so don’t expect it in Drumming Upstream, but I found Lyons’ argument about this song as an outlier of DOOM’s catalog compelling.
Through the recommendation of Discord mutual of mine I spent an afternoon binging Brandon Taylor’s backlog on Substack. This particular post addressing both sides of the arguments for and against sex scenes in television and movies was especially refreshing. Taylor opens the windows and clears out all of the inane fumes on both sides, revealing the moldy ideas about what even “unnecessary” means in narrative art.
Between Fictionss and Bellows, I spent a lot of time playing the dembow beat in 2023. The groove, a “doo-KAdoo-KA” instantly familiar to anyone who’s lived in a city in the last decade and a half, is an essential part of any 21st century drummer’s tool kit. If you’ve ever wondered how this beat that you can hear in songs by everyone from System of a Down to Bad Bunny conquered the world, you should read this article from Bandcamp outlining its history and highlighting a range of its contemporary practitioners.
# # # # # The Self Promo Zone # # # # #
My first gig of the year swiftly approaches. Laughing Stock, the ice-cold and red hot goth/post-punk band that I’ve been playing with since June, returns to Ridgewood, Queens to rock and roll at the Windjammer on January 20th. We’re playing material from our 2023 demo as well as plenty of newer tunes. Bring earplugs and dancing shoes.
ICYMI: Drumming Upstream is back, baby! To start the third season of my on-going project to learn how to play ever song I’ve ever Liked on Spotify on drums, I learned “Backstreets” by Bruce Springsteen from his 1975 smash album Born to Run. Since I’ve had the chance to write about Springsteen a few times in this series, I took this opportunity to examine why Born to Run succeeded where Springsteen’s earlier albums failed. Drumming Upstream is for my paying subscribers only. You too can hop the paywall for the low price of $5 a month.
Later tonight I’ll be attending my friend Cassie Wieland’s birthday party, which she’s commemorated by releasing a new t-shirt for her ambient pop project Vines. I was honored to have Cassie as a guest on Lamniformes Radio to talk about her dual life in the classical and indie worlds, going viral on TikTok, and the intersection of arts and athletics in her life. Give the podcast a listen and cop a shirt if you’re into it!
I have very exciting news about new Lamniformes music coming down the pipeline, but for now my cover of “A Stone’s Throw Away” by The Style Council is the freshest Lamniformes tune on the market. It’s available exclusively on the For Palestine compilation organized by the good folks at GUNK. The compilation also features tracks from some of the hottest names in the New York indie scene these days and all proceeds go to the Palestine Youth Movement and Anera.
Five people have now told me either in person or online that they would read a full length Tár review, so as promised I’m going to get to work on one. Well, technically one person told me that they disagreed with my blurb about the movie in my 2023 wrap up, but I’m going to count that as encouragement by provocation. In either case, I say this not to announce the imminent arrival of the essay, because, I mean you read the Barbenheimer piece right? That thing took me about a month to write, including two weeks when I was technically on vacation. I mention it because I want to illustrate that I am always open to reader suggestions! If there’s something you’d like to read me write about or something that I mention in one of these letters that you’d like me to elaborate on, hit me up in the comments!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Listening Diary ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Here are five songs that I enjoyed listening to recently! You can find a playlist with all of this year’s tracks at the bottom of this section.
“Down” by Another Heaven (IV: Heaven Sent, 2023)
It is currently deathly grey and dreary in New York, so we’re jamming the bummer tunes. As discussed on Lamniformes Radio, Another Heaven used the shutdown in 2020 to take their playing and production to another level. You can taste the fruits of that labor on “Down”. While just as thunderingly loud as their older material, “Down” shows off the band’s sharper sense of melody and sports a mix that puts that vocal line front and center. I’m really into how they use a chord change and an extra vocal to make the chorus pop even though it has the same underlying melody as the verse. That’s efficient! Fans of Spotlights, Cloakroom, and the like should definitely give this one a shot.
“Order of the Blackguards” by Voivod (Killing Technology, 1987)
After successfully catching up with current music last year I’ve immediately returned to the past to catch on up classics that I hadn’t gotten around to. Outside of Nothingface, which a friend burnt for me on CD in high school, Voivod have been a real blind spot for me for years. They never get as much press or tongue-wagging as the big names in the American thrash scene or even Sepultura who have become cool as hell thanks to their adoption by beatdown hardcore types. It’s evident though that Voivod had a huge influence on the artsy end of the death metal scene. Just listen to the way things go totally bonkers underneath the guitar solo. That 6/8 blast beat riff could have been on any number of last year’s best death metal albums. Being this far ahead of the curve probably put them out in the cold in the moment, but it makes Voivod an excellent metal band for the present.
“Saviour Machine” by David Bowie (The Man Who Sold The World, 1970)
In the same spirit, I want to spend 2024 catching up on the Bowie albums that I haven’t heard before. First up was The Man Who Sold The World, where Bowie tries out hard rock. Hearing David Bowie sing over a band that’s only a few dials away from Black Sabbath is interesting in its own right, but “Saviour Machine” stuck out to me for how it anticipated themes that Bowie would address with far more subtly on later albums. The reluctant, self-hating sci-fi messiah figure vs mankind’s desire for a mechanically systemized comfort. Listening to this tune I’m struck both by how much Bowie’s voice, both literal and lyric, both did and did not change over the course of his body of work.
“Ballad of Big Nothing” by Elliott Smith (Either/Or, 1997)
~*My Girlfriend*~ is a big Elliott Smith fan, so I’m making a renewed effort to see what all the fuss is about. This might shock you if you’re following me because I play in Bellows, a band that definitely owes a debt to Smith’s style, but I’ve only ever skimmed through the Smith catalog. Well, it won’t be a surprise if you’re following me for my own music that the song that jumped out to me most on my first pass through Either/Or was one that, if you squint, sounds almost like a huge rocker. Neat contrast between the close-mic’d guitars and the distant loud drums.
“Ubiquity Road” by Oneohtrix Point Never (Again, 2023)
After diving into the Lopatinverse for DU#35 I felt obligated to give the man’s latest an earnest go, despite not connecting with the last few Oneohtrix records. Though his harmonic language is by and large much safer these days than on R Plus Seven, this tune’s blend of woodwinds, digital textures, and analog synths got close to recapturing the old magic. And hey, I’m not above some post-rock chord progressions every now and then, especially when crafted with this level of sonic definition. It wipes the floor with most other music auditioning for a film score, that’s for sure.
\ \ \ \ \ Micro Reviews / / / / /
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.
Follow The Blind by Blind Guardian (1989) - Heavy Metal
lol look at this cover. Early Blind Guardian could have skated by as straight ahead metal, but they cannot hide their nerdiest impulses. I can only respect it. Pretty much the same record as their debut, albeit with the memetic fan favorite “Valhalla” as its thrilling finale. Not my favorite of theirs, I prefer when their impulses got 20% dorkier, but still enjoyable if you’re into melodic-forward heavy metal from the late 80s.
Happy Songs for Happy People by Mogwai (2003) - Post-Rock
Coming to post rock through Explosions in the Sky and Godspeed I was expecting Mogwai to be bombastic/melodramatic, but this record set me straight. Mogwai might have big dynamic swings but their music is always even-keeled. I wouldn’t call these songs happy necessarily, some of them can be a bit dour, but by and large they are all pleasant and content, if a piece of music can be such a thing. The soundtrack to having a normal day. Good stuff.
I Might Be Wrong by Radiohead (2001) - Alternative Rock
A short collection of live recordings from the Kid A/Amnesiac era. Some are noticeably different from the studio versions. The real draw is that this was the only officially released recording of “True Love Waits” until Moon Shaped Pool. Otherwise non-essential, even for Radiohead fans. It is charming to hear them biff a few parts. Rock stars, they’re just like us!
Paranoid Delusions | Paradise Illusions by Pulling Teeth (2009) - Hardcore
Very cool two-sided album art. Half hyper-fast metallic hardcore, half psychedelic sludge. Not sure what happened to this band, but they had some hype behind them for a minute there a decade ago. This might be a shock if you’ve read along for all of these micro reviews, but I kinda wish this record was longer? I feel like they left something on the table here, some other avenue that they could have explored. Cool record for what it is, though!
Testing the Limits of Infinite by Reign Supreme (2009) - Hardcore
Another Deathwish Inc clearance sale pick up. I think the album art and title led me to expect something more cerebral, but this record is purely physical. Damn, listening to this makes me miss moshing, even though I’d likely have my ass whooped by some 22 y/o if I tried to hop in the pit these days. Massive breakdowns on this record.