Listening Diary 21

Gothic Retro Metal, Guatemalen Prog, Digital Native Hardcore, and more!

Good morning! I hope you had a pleasant weekend. Here are ten tunes that I recently enjoyed listening to. The first five, one a day for the working week, are free for all to hear and consider. The next five however are exclusively for my paying subscribers. For the full suite of tunes and other fun bonuses, subscribe now at $5 a month!

“Pink Fog” by Sonja (Loud Arriver, 2022)

As I mentioned in a Micro Review a few weeks back, I’m really into Sonja’s debut album. This is the track that hooked me. Just about every element of this song is a cut above your average metal tune. At a brisk 130 bpm “Pink Fog” moves like a disco track, emphasizing the rhythm in rhythm guitar and leaving plenty of room for the vocals to take center stage. Moore’s vocals seal the deal, slinking deftly from one chord to the next without taking any of the obvious paths. Between Sonja, Unto Others, and Sumerlands, retro heavy metal seems to be in the throes of a goth phase, and “Pink Fog” wears its all black with the best of them.

“Gorilla” by Little Simz (No Thank You, 2022)

Research for Drumming Upstream #34. Little Simz has earned a lot of accolades for the symphonic scope of her last few albums, but on “Gorilla” she strips the track down to its essentials and highlights her control over language. Given so much space to stretch out, Simz bends syllables to her will, rolling her words over to find pockets of internal rhymes. When her usual Late Registration-sized orchestral splendor arrives it feels like gentle overkill, a polite demonstration of what league Simz is operating in.

“Central Dogma” by Thotcrime (D1G1T4L_DR1FT, 2022)

The longest of long time Lamniformes fans will know that I am always down for more hardcore punk inspired by Neon Genesis Evangelion. On “Central Dogma” Thotcrime play a similar game to the one I did on my concept demo Trials, using dialogue and plot points from the show as the basis of lyrics that could either function as a straightforward retelling of the story and/or an extended metaphor. Otherwise our music has nothing in common. Thotcrimes are part of a wave of digital native queer kids repurposing MySpace-era aesthetics for a hyper-pop age. White belt grind played with black belt expertise.

“Under BOAC” by Autechre (LP5, 1998)

As I’ve gotten older I’ve come to terms with the inevitability of becoming an Autechre guy. I mean, I have opinions about ergonomic office chairs these days for christ’s sake. Having bounced off of their catalog a few times now, I asked Twitter for recommendations. Ryo Miyauchi and Erik Gundel both concurred that LP5 was the best option. Good call, guys! This track sounds like a jazz drummer playing ping pong on pots and pans. It’s interesting how close this gets to the archetypical SOPHIE feeling of sounds being stttttttrrrreeeeccchhhed out like melted pieces of plastic despite being a good 15 older than of SOPHIE’s work.

“Un Minuto de Ilusión” by Alux Nahual (Alux Nahual, 1981)

It remains a perpetual source of annoyance that during all of my forum dwelling years, scouring the internet for the best prog rock I could get my hands on, no one ever pointed me to the wealth of rad bands playing the style in South America. If I can provide any guidance to the young would-be shredders of the world, it is to not sleep on bands like Guatamala’s Alux Nahaul. Listen to that harmonized violin and guitar line! Check out the Yes-like bass playing. Tear down the UK prog bias!