Grindcore is like one of those mythical goblins that lurks under the bed as you drift deeper into hardcore, punk and metal, similar to how the seediest reaches of the dark web aren’t that many clicks away from some innocent torrenting of old Fugazi bootlegs. It’s a genre that earns undying loyalty and respect from many of my favorite bands and it requires enormous musical talent to perform it accurately, but it just feels like listening to the sound of a chainsaw that you know is being used for something other than good old-fashioned deforestation.
Because of its almost familial connection to metal and hardcore’s greats, I am often recommended bands of this ilk. This week’s Spotify Release Radar had 8 out of 30 songs that I’d easily peg as grindcore or some even nastier subgenre. When I started to see band names in my queue that physically hurt to say out loud (if you demand examples, visit a band with a reasonably benign name like Cattle Decapitation and traverse their “fans also like” tree) accompanied by the unintelligible yet unmistakable scribble that can only be a grindcore band’s logo, I knew Spotify had decided I had had some kind of week.
Highlights from another week on my Release Radar playlist are below. I have to say, even forgetting all the grindcore (which I already have), this week’s slate was not good. In fact, it was so not good that it almost made me want to cancel my Spotify account which, for all practical purposes, means declaring that I’m completely done with music. I didn’t, and I’m not, but let’s not pretend that AI doesn’t also slack off before a holiday weekend from time to time like the rest of us (which, again, is why I remain resolutely unafraid of this technology).
The Used - “Giving Up”
Of course The Used are still around. I stopped paying attention around the time the single for “Pretty Handsome Awkward” dropped1 since I assumed this band would burn up in the atmosphere as the Taste of Chaos Tour came in for its final landing. Well, by my count they’ve put out at least seven LPs and a gazillion alts and b-sides since then while only awkwardly harvesting the remains of Saosin once in order to maintain a full lineup. There is zero chance I would have admitted it at the time, but I’ve definitely slipped “Take It Away” onto some mix CDs. Bert and his buddies deserve credit - they know exactly what they are and stick with it. If you’re into heavily produced commercial mall-emo, this new stuff is as good as anything else they’ve done.
hopscotchbattlescars - “Nothing To Do, No One To Love”
I’ll start with an apology if I’ve incorrectly capitalized or punctuated anything above; I know how deeply bands can care about this. In more ways than one, this Winnipeg outfit feel very much like the spiritual successor to Curl Up And Die: noisy, breakdown-laden metalcore dripping with sass. The band describe themselves as “queer metalcore,” almost as if Pansy Division were cosplaying as Poison The Well, with lyrics that evoke the spirit and emotion of a long-marginalized community rather than the simple rattling off of buzzwords and platitudes. The ingredients are all here for this band to make figurative noise, now that they’re already making plenty of literal noise.
No Pressure - “Say What You Mean”
Boasting The Story So Far singer Parker Cannon, No Pressure’s music should come bearing an “it’s complicated” disclaimer. Cannon’s mere mention can spark some truly cringeworthy debates amongst a very specific and depressing sliver of the internet’s youth over things that I didn’t even know needed to be debated, like the amount of women you need to hate before you can be considered a misogynist. Anyway, Parker Cannon in the past has done some objectively stupid and quite possibly misogynist things. Is he reformed now? I’m sure Alternative Press or Kerrang Magazine would say yes. For some this may be where you simply and sensibly move on to the next song in this post.
No Pressure’s music is a solid homage to late-90’s SoCal punk that reminds me instantly of bands like Fenix TX and Autopilot Off. The track’s excessive production sheen with endless auto-tuned vocal harmonies waters down the song’s charm, but for fans seeking new interpretations of the forbidden beat punk of yesteryear, this isn’t a bad option. Just, complicated. Next!
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - “Gila Monster”
With “Gila Monster,” King Gizzard comes across to the uninitiated (like myself a couple hours ago) as an unremarkable stoner rock band slotting in amongst the ranks of Fu Manchu, Sleep and plenty of other bands I listen to once every five years. Since I was listening to this in my car, I wouldn’t have even clocked the band name or explored this any further if not for the artwork for this single, which is easily the best part. Little did I know that Spotify’s algorithm was choosing now to be the time to expose me to what turns out to be a vast musical universe and community of fans so engaged that the band is headlining the Hollywood Bowl in a few weeks. It’s as if Mastodon and Dave Matthews Band entered into a highly complicated business arrangement and they were recruiting me to be a sales rep! If this isn’t an inspiring sign of the times, I don’t know what is.
Having said all that, I don’t find this to be very good.
Spanish Love Songs - “Haunted”
If the uplifting heartland punk of Japandroids and Gaslight Anthem is your thing, you will either absolutely love this band or despise them as being offensively derivative. As the first single from the band’s LP due later this summer, “Haunted” is a worthy next musical step with upped production value and layering in of keyboard flourishes, perhaps still feeling the good vibes from the Killers cover they dropped only a few months ago. Historically I would be an absolute ass about a band like this as their music really isn’t innovative and feels extremely safe, but it is neatly-composed, well-produced and goes down easy. I would absolutely put this on in the car while I drive my in-laws to the airport, and I don’t say that about just anyone.
Origami Angel - “My PG County Summer”
Has anyone ever romanticized a summer in Prince George’s County before? I guess I’ve probably had a decent burrito at an On The Border in Beltsville in June, but that hardly makes a whole summer. Origami Angel is a pop-punk duo from the PG County-neighboring Washington, DC that hits the Moog-backed melodies pretty hard in this tune, naturally stirring up memories of Motion City Soundtrack (who, last year, embarked on a 17th anniversary tour for Commit This To Memory - I think most bands would just call that a “tour?”). Taking the torch from Reggie and the Full Effect2, the band shows a wide pop punk range across their catalog from the more emo-inspired mid-Atlantic sensibility of River City High to punchy, sugary power pop like we see here. It’s a little weird to find such a spirited and cheery band come out of the DC scene after decades of unmitigated angst, but the city really might need this.
Smashing Pumpkins - “Harmageddon”
While diehards fill the internet with complaints over the band’s ongoing exclusion from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, The Pumpkins themselves continue to jeopardize that possibility by further diluting their catalog with way too much material. This is a band that has released an ocean of beyond-forgettable music in the years since 1998’s Adore, and that’s a period that includes a fairly lengthy layoff in the early 2000’s while Corgan fiddled around with the especially Pumpkins-like Zwan. ATUM is a single double triple-disc rock opera, the third act of which released earlier this month to a collective “seriously?” from most of us. “Harmageddon,” from the album’s third disc, sees the Pumpkins finally… finally dip their toes in the shallow waters of gentle butt-rock. Honestly3, despite the masturbatory nature of this record, ATUM does have at least one album’s worth of good songs from its total of 33, which in itself is admirable when you think about how often these guys must be reminded that they peaked musically nearly 30 years ago by glasses-wearing jerks like myself.
Tigercub - “Swoon”
Despite living in today’s interconnected world, there still appears to be a certain type of band that just feels stuck in a UK bubble. Bands in the past like Young Guns or Biffy Clyro would be covered like massive stars in Rocksound Magazine and practically ignored in the US despite music that would easily score points in this market. Brighton’s Tigercub, signed to Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard’s very American record label, fronted by a very American-sized 7-foot-tall lead singer in Jamie Hall, deliver a thumping and confident big-box emo sound that bears striking and specific resemblance to Far’s 2010 cover of Juvenile’s “Pony” (though very little to any of Far’s earlier work). Fans of the loopier elements of Chiodos and He Is Legend along with Blindside’s more straight-ahead heavy rock moments would be right at home with “Swoon.” While a band like this no doubt is more concerned with how many streams they’re getting on Deezer, I’m glad Spotify dug this one up from the sandy south of England for me.
I also received additional recommendations from Unearth and DRAIN, two bands I discussed last week. I have nothing but enthusiastic thumbs-ups for those bands. Spotify: you’ve done your job there, let’s hear some new stuff. Until next time, thanks for reading!
Over 16 years ago, if my math can be trusted.
A band that has unfortunately grown more depressing with each successive release, but I also wonder if that might be intentional…