Antipop Consortium

Lots of server maintenance this weekend - if anything seems off, let me know! (There’s nobody reading this.) Anyway, I think things are working properly. Mostly, it shouldn’t affect this blog, it’s primarily my discord bots today, which I think are all operational again. So let’s have some tunes!

Turnstile, “Glow On”

You know, a mystery I never got around to really solving is whether or not Plex’s randomizer has a preference for track ones. It probably doesn’t, I probably mostly just notice when it happens as opposed to some other random track. Especially because track ones have a stronger tendency to be intros/skits/other types of non-real songs. Plus, of course, every record on here has a track one, while they’re not guaranteed to have any other tracks. That said? It sure seems like they come up more than they should. Which is just proof that I’m a big, dumb idiot.

Idlewild, “These Wooden Ideas”

It’s not always clear ahead of time if an album or band will click or not. Reviews and comparisons can take you only so far, and until you sit down with a record and really try it out, you’ll just never know. On paper, Idlewild should have been up my alley. And this is fine, but there’s no spark for me. I suppose it’s good that surprises still happen in this process, otherwise it would be mechanical and dull, and those exciting times when something is perfect for you are worth seeking out. I mean, if our tastes were predictable, we could build ourselves big recommendaiton engines, and people would just sit around and listen to whatever the machines suggest. Thank god that’s not going to happen!

The Garbage & The Flowers, “Carousel”

This is from a comp from the Twisted Village label (Deep Funnels of Entry) featuring a bunch of the psych rock bands the label had. I don’t even know who was the most famous of these bands - maybe the Crystalized Movements? The answer is “none of them”, I guess. I bought this because I really liked Crystalized Movements, and the rest of the comp didn’t really turn up any new favorites for me.

Foetus, “Clothes Hoist”

Foetus released live albums pretty often, which were usually pretty good. The live show was often more direct and noisier, driven by having a live band making a racket. So it’s not just a re-hash of the album tracks, making them good listens if you like Foetus. This is from Boil, and the track is originally from Hole.

Antipop Consortium, “Splinter”

I got totally lost in the rhymes in the first verse.

Future of the Left, “the male gaze”

This is a pretty straightforward song from Future of the Left, perhaps to kind of match the subject of the song.

The Delgados, “Accused of Stealing”

There’s another band that this is really reminding me of, and I’m totally unable to put my finger on it. That sensation, of a band or song remaining just outside of your grasp, is one of the most frustrating things for my brain. Super painful, and I don’t know how I can clear this one out.

Primitive Man, “Loathe”

Primitive Man is very aptly named, a knuckle-dragging sludge/doom act from Denver, putting out punishing, bleak records that are unsubtle in the extreme. This little ditty comes from Home Is Where The Hatred Is, an EP from 2015 that is just basically sunless and crushing like this.

Thou, “Feral Faun”

Thou is actually one of the bands I think of as being closest to Primitive Man, so nice pull, shuffle. I suppose there’s more nuance to Thou than Primitive Man at times, as you can hear in the intro to this song. But, overall, it’s the same kind of bleak approach to things. There’s more melody here, I suppose, if you squint hard enough.

A brief discussion popped up on Twitter, and I realized how strong 1989 was for albums. In no particular order: Bleach, 3 Feet High and Rising, Pretty Hate Machine, Doolittle, Energy, 13 Songs, Wrong, Bizarro, Paul’s Boutique, and Mudhoney were all released that year. And I’m sure I’m missing others. Although I’m sure I’d come up with similar lists for other years. I did look at 1990, and at first glance, it doesn’t seem as strong. Anyway, here’s today’s music.

Today’s music. And, I recognize that people bitching about redesigns is the worst, but can I just say I hate the YouTube redesign? There, that’s out of the ol’ system.

The Sunshine Fix, “Everything is Waking”

The Olivia Tremor Control was a legendary indie pop band, producing Beatles-esque psychedelia that was beloved of basically every music critic. Will Hart retired from music to focus on art, and Bill Doss started The Sunshine Fix to continue in the same vein. And yeah, it’s very, very Beatles-y.

From a musty 70s basement to the sound of future rap, today’s Five Songs has you covered.

Space Rock, “Dark Days”

So, here’s a true oddity for you. Numero Group, a record label primarily doing reissues (and doing a great job!), released Cities of Darkscorch, a fantasy board game where you’re playing as a hard rock band, traveling around the world defeating monsters and questing. It was accompanied by a double LP, Wayfaring Strangers: Darkscorch Canticles, which was full of Sabbath and Zeppelin inspired heavy rock from a variety of acts. It all kind of tries to function as a time machine back to the early days of gaming, and ends up being a pretty unique package. I’m not sure it’s all good, exactly, but I’m sure glad I own it.