Listening Diary 22

A hardcore punk variety pack, with some avant garde on the side

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!

“Roar” by Fucked Up (One Day, 2023)

I’ve always admired Fucked Up from a far. I respect the hell out of the way they bend the rules of hardcore punk, but the only album of theirs I’ve engaged with deeply is Glass Boys, for a review that I wrote for Unrecorded back in 2014. The whole theme of that record was their singer’s suspicion that they were aging out of punk rock, but here Fucked Up are nine years later. Way to prove yourselves wrong! The things that made them fascinating then are still true now, keep an ear out for the organ, softer backing vocals, and creative use of guitar-drones.

“Arrival” by Parannoul (After The Magic, 2023)

A few diaries ago I mentioned that I think post rock is due to be back very soon. Parannoul, from South Korea, are a substantial piece of my evidence for that hypothesis. These songs are looooooooong and all creak up roller coster style from delicate softness to rousing volume. I’ll admit that I found the album exhausting to take in all at once, each track is quite effective individually. This one leans more into the woozy shoegaze of My Bloody Valentine or M83, but still follows the linear climb to a sweeping climax. Both shoegaze and post rock are typically thought of as guitar genres, but a big part of this song’s identity comes from how chaotic those shuffling drums make it feel.

“ファジィな痛み／Fuzzy Pain” by Psy • S (Atlas, 1989)

Not sure how this track ended up on my recommend pile, but I’m glad it did. Gorgeous, melancholy alt rock powered by one hell of a bassline and full of dreamy washes of guitar and keys. I like how they pivot after the second verse into a bridge that might as well be its own chorus. Really pretty stuff.

“Fire Head” by Nyokabi Kariuki (Feeling Body, 2023)

More of a piece of audio art than a song, so tune your ears appropriately. The way Kariuki manipulates a single phrase from a text-to-speech program into a multitude of meanings reminds me of Steve Reich but with a way more hands-on approach. “Fire Head” doesn’t risk the chance of you missing the point, introducing a second stinging second phrase at just the right moment to focus your attention right where it wants it.

“From Tha Gods To Earth” by Zulu (A New Tomorrow, 2023)

Picking a single track from this excellent new hardcore album almost feels like an insult. A New Tomorrow is a panoramic record, creating meaning and pathos from the way it moves from one set of sounds to another. Treat this track then as a preview of the full story. The arc from grindcore intensity to the piano driven conclusion is the album’s journey in miniature, from suffering to hope.