It’s the 690th installment of Newer Release Roundup! WRONG! I lost track already! “How did you lose track?” you ask, “This is only your fourth installment.” To that I say: shut it.

Maybe it’s because we don’t have a brand new pandemic traipsing around town and ruining my goddamned year this time, as opposed to some other years I know, but man it sure seems like there’s a lot more music coming out this year all at once? I mean, it’s to be expected, since all these bands didn’t have shit to do last year except prune their gardens and talk to ladybugs via Zoom. But there’s too much to keep up with, try as I might. And try I do. Here’s three more fresh-as-a-limp-daisy albums that I wrote about for your reading “pleasure”:

Chai – WINK
(May 21, 2021)

Hyperactive and bubbly Japanese girl-group Chai returns not quite as hyperactive but still bubbly with their third studio album .

While the first two albums drew more from influences such as Devo and, um, ’80s new wave pop music in general, WINK is way more subdued and a draws more from the R’n’B and soul side of pop music. Hazy downtempo and sleepy synths are everywhere with some occasional upbeat dance tracks sprinkled in (like the chiptune Ladytron-esque celebration “PING PONG!”), but this is mostly a mellow trip.

And while I appreciate band treading previously uncharted waters, I find a great deal of this album forgettable. And some parts are very NOT forgettable, like the spontaneous inclusion of Chicago rapper Ric Wilson during the bridge of “Maybe Chocolate Chips”, which is enjoyable enough but feels incredibly out of place. Maybe that’s the point? I can’t tell. I feel like Chai didn’t know exactly what to do during this album, and, consequently, I don’t know exactly how I’m supposed to feel about it. I miss the old Chai.

Early Verdict:

Tomahawk – Tonic Immobility
(March 26, 2021)

Nothing used to mean the world to me more than a Mike Patton project. Now take Tomahawk, which has Patton, Duane Denison of the Jesus Lizard, John Stanier of Helmet and Battles, Trevor Dunn of a million different great things, and you’ve got a supergroup made in heaven…20 years ago.

OK, that’s harsh. It’s been hard to get too excited lately with Patton’s output. The 2015 Faith No More reunion album was tepid, last year’s Mr. Bungle re-recording of their thrash metal debut was good enough but there wasn’t much lasting power, and now we get a new Tomahawk album. Right now I need more time with it, because none of this fifth studio album is breaking new ground, and yet I can’t bring myself to say there’s anything particularly wrong with it. In fact, Patton’s voice is as dynamic as ever and the bizarrely cryptic lyrics are gripping like nothing else. The energy isn’t phoned in, and you can tell the band is having fun with it. Tracks like “Business Casual” and “Sidewinder” display some cool bassline gymnastics, and tracks like “Doomsday Fatigue” show some abstract and sarcastic takes on current events. So what’s the issue?

I think the problem just lies with innovation. Patton’s whole schtick is surprising his audience, and I’m not too surprised with Tonic Immobility. Even though I feel like it’s a minor improvement over both 2013’s Oddfellows and 2007’s Anonymous, I’m left cold by the presentation of ideas. Maybe I expected more after an eight-year span. In short, I need more time with this. I have a feeling it’s a very slow grower.

Early Verdict:

Demoniac – So It Goes
(January 29, 2021)

Chilean blackened thrash metal band Demoniac is described on their Bandcamp page as…well, all they say on there is that they are “thrash metal from Limache, Chile”. Bah. Looks like I’m going to have to come up with my own words.

So It Goes, Demoniac’s second album, blew me away! Typically, I find the thrash genre to be incredibly limited, and even though many bands have been tapping the thrash metal well for over 35 years, barely any of them have yielded many more strokes of genius out of the genre at all. You had a band like Vektor emerge in the new millennium with a fresh progressive angle to the thrash metal genre, but frontman David DiSanto is a wife beater so fuck those guys. Now we have Demoniac emerging with their own fresh progressive angle and hopefully there’s no wife beating involved here!

Most of the straightforward sections combine elements of thrash, black, death metal with occasional experimental time signatures, sudden mood shifts, electronic effects, but the real curveball comes from the featured clarinet soloing throughout the entire third track “Extraviado”. It’s like Eric Dolphy himself rose from the grave and started jazzing it up with a touch of klezmer for good measure! This clarinet also shows up on the mammoth 19-minute final track, which is a simply exciting ride all the way through as well.

Every time I spin this one I find more to grab my attention. Check it out, goddamnit.

Early Verdict: