The Micro Review Mother Load
Fives on Friday 5/24/2024
Happy Friday!
I spent most of this week and the previous weekend moving into a new apartment. My brain is essentially mush. I have some notes about moving, Mad Men, and The Conversation, but I do not have the time or mental wherewithal to turn those notes into anything coherent or cogent. The rest of the letter however is ready to go. To make up for the truncated intro I’ve added five extra Micro Reviews this week. This means that the letter has too many images & links to load in email, so be sure to open this in your browser or on the Substack app. Thank you for bearing with me. See ya next week!
# # # # # The Self Promo Zone # # # # #
On June 1st I’m drumming with the band Fictiones as part of a multi-media party/show/event at the Kaleidoscope Gallery in Ridgewood. In addition to Fictiones genre-blending party rock this ”happening”, as Fictiones band leader Dan Rico put it, will feature poetry readings, puppetry, dance performances… honestly I’m not entirely clear on how many different things will be going on. The whole thing strikes me as extremely New York. So if you’re in New York, consider swinging by!
On June 5th Laughing Stock, the post-punk band I drum for who are extremely New York in their own way, are playing a far more straightforward though no less exciting show at Gold Sounds. We’re playing with Pynkie, Retail Drugs, and Mariah Houston. We’ve been on a very productive songwriting streak lately, so hopefully we’ll have some new tunes for ya!
When I’m not drumming with other bands, I write music under the name Lamniformes. This isn’t news to most of my readers, but since I’ve had a big influx of new readers (thanks Ryo!) so I don’t see the harm in review. This March I released my latest album, called The Lonely Atom. Jack Greenleaf (Sharpless) and I produced the album during the COVID lockdowns, stitching together parts from musicians across the country into songs about the desire for connection in an atomized age. These songs brought me back to my roots in the nü-metal and alternative rock of my early teen years, refined by the sharpest songwriting of my career. You can listen to it, and even buy it if you feel so inclined, on my Bandcamp page:
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Listening Diary ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Here are five songs that I enjoyed listening to recently! You can find a playlist with all of this year’s tracks here, updated every week day with a new tune.
“Grasshoppers” by Ryuichi Sakamoto (Thousand Knives, 1978)
In between my other on-going listening prospects I’ve slowly been picking away at Ryuichi Sakamoto’s massive catalog, along with the rest of the extended YMO universe. Coming to Thousand Knives fresh off of Yukihiro Takahashi’s Neuromantic and taken by its swaggy as hell album cover, I hit play expecting a slick pop record. Boy was I off the mark lol. It’s not ambient exactly, this track is too lively and excitable to work as wallpaper, but it does feel more like “time-dressing” music than a full throated statement.
“Reflections in Suspension” by Steve Roach (Structures From Silence, 1984)
This track on the other hand is a pure, uncut ambient diamond. While I’m sure this association would baffle this record’s biggest fans, this tune reminded me of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber from Dragonball Z. It conveys the same mix of serenity and seriousness that you’d expect of a room where a year passes within a day. I get why so many people treat ambient music as a productivity tool, but that feels like a vulgar interpretation of the kind of focus this track induces.
“the CIA” by Glass Beach (Plastic Death, 2024)
I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to hear a young prog rock band that sound like they have no intention of ever signing with InsideOut. Even better that they’re writing songs like this that use the language of Libra-pilled weirdos like me as a romantic metaphor. This is legit clever and surprising stuff, and an early contender for my 2024 EOY list.
“Vishvarupa” by Sun Kin (After the House, 2021)
I got hooked on this bass line while researching for my podcast interview with Sun Kin’s Kabir Kumar. I love that you can tell that there is a pattern but it’s long enough that you can’t quite track where it begins and ends. Perfect for a dance track where you need to feel momentum and stasis in equal measure. Great work!
“Give it Back” by Gaelle (Transient, 2004)
Get a load of this absolute smash. One reason I’ve been gravitating to early 00s production (and late 70s production now that I think of it) lately is that it’s precise, brittle, and tactile. This makes it a great antidote to the pillowy sound of pop music from the last decade or so. I mean, just listen to this arrangement! If 2010s pop is a hazy gradient, this is an elegant series of thin lines. Music for glass condos, expensive cocktails, and the soft patter of rain on windows.
\ \ \ \ \ Micro Reviews / / / / /
Here are five micro reviews from my high school and college CD collection. 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.
Come Clarity by In Flames (2006) - Metal
By ‘06 In Flames were widely believed to be washed, following an ill-conceived dalliance with nü metal. This was supposed to be their comeback record. Somewhere along the way I picked up the contrarian stance that this album was “good, actually.” It isn’t. The chorus to the title track is pretty catchy, but the rest is either generic “modern” metal or uninspired rehashes of the band’s better days. Heard one tune, heard ‘em all.
Volcano by Satyricon (2002) - Black Metal
After the initial media circus and arrests cooled down in the late 90s, the Norwegian black metal bands not dead or locked up had to figure out how to make playing the genre into a career. Satyricon’s solution was a dry, mechanical approach that also pushed the genre closer to standard-issue heavy metal. This album is a lot of one sound, and by the end of it I can’t say its a sound I’m fond of. “Possessed” has some slick writing and the final track has a very effective stop-and-start gimmick but everything else gets monotonous.
Pi: Music For the Motion Picture (1998) - Electronica
This was originally part of my sister’s CD collection but “somehow” it ended up in mine. My first exposure to a lot of IDM, trip-hop, drum’n’bass, etc. Probably better than the movie, if I’m being honest. The big names (Aphex Twin, Autchere, Massive Attack) are all bunched up at the start, but the slower/moody tracks near the end hold their own too. Cool collection.
Beyond The Noise by The Warriors (2006) - Hardcore
No idea how this ended up in my collection, don’t remember buying it and I never saw this band live. Must have arrived via spontaneous generation. This is a good example of what I like to call “humanist hardcore” i.e. life affirming and individualist lyrics over bouncy grooves and well timed breakdowns. “Living life is the denial of death/fearing death is the denial of life” is a great lyric. I like it!
Hatebreeder by Children of Bodom (1999) - Metal
This was the record that sticklers told me was the good stuff when it came to Bodom, so I dutifully picked it up. It’s a bit too much “Mozart but with double kick” for me these days, but they were undoubtedly onto something here and “Downfall” is a legit great tune. Still, I sort of like their later, dumber stuff more?
Precambrian by The Ocean (2007) - Post-Metal
A two disc collection, the first a mathy hardcore EP, and the second a post metal full length. At this point The Ocean were still a rotating cast of session players and guest singers around guitarist Robin Staps. The second disc is much better than the first. Staps seems more comfortable writing and arranging at slower tempos. The songwriting is looser and less organized than on the records they’d make once the lineup solidified, but the execution is top notch as always.
Scream Bloody Gore by Death (1987) - Death Metal
This album has a credible claim to the title of first death metal album ever, depending on who you ask. It hardly resembles the band Death would become in the 90s. Extremely juvenile songs about zombies and murder, performed with teenage passion and messiness. One note, but entertaining and charming if you enjoy bargain bin horror movies.
The Way of All Flesh by Gojira (2008) - Metal
The album that truly broke Gojira in America. This felt like a coronation, earning Gojira a supporting slot for Metallica and garnering a ton of praise from the metal press. The Way of All Flesh benefits from being less conceptual than From Mars. Instead they focused on making hooky tunes. It worked. Both of my favorite Gojira songs are from this album, and the rest of the songs are a cut above everything they’ve released since. It could still stand to be a bit shorter, but not by much. A huge record in the modern metal canon.
Chaosphere by Meshuggah (1998) - Djent
Cover looks like a 90s PC puzzle game. Meshuggah at their most intense and aggressive. Sounds like Metallica played by stop motion Terminators. This is great, although it’s kind of stressful, honestly. It might have my favorite lead guitar work of any Meshuggah album. “New Millennium Cyanide Christ” is the hit, but by no means the only stand out. I LOVE the noise/electronic stuff on the closing track. Kick ass album. Please enjoy the greatest heavy metal music video of all time.
Third by Portishead (2008) - Art Pop
The 90s trip-hop trio’s 2008 reunion record, where they abandoned trip-hop entirely. Instead the songs are a mix of folk, Silver Apples style electronica, kraut rock, industrial music, etc. Portishead 08 is practically a different band altogether. My band used to cover “Machine Gun” for a while in Chicago. This should give you some idea of how much I like this album. Every song is completely distinct, but cohere to create a paranoid, anxious gloom. This album is one of a kind, easily my favorite by this group and one of my all time favorites period.