Still over a month to go and list season is already upon us, with Album of the Year features already dropped for publications like Rough Trade and Decibel, among a few others.

Personally, I look forward to the lists by The Quietus, BrooklynVegan, Kerrang!, Pitchfork, Loud and Quiet, Louder Than War, Stereogum, Anthony Fantano, The Line of Best Fit, and Gorilla vs. Bear. And many others I’m sure.

RIP Tiny Mix Tapes.

Thy Catafalque – Vadak
(June 25, 2021)

A lot of black metal acts seem to pivot quickly to something entirely different than black metal. You never see it the other way around. It’s not like Adele or Taylor Swift are going to suddenly start shrieking through lo-fi static, recording all their tracks in an isolated cabin in northern Norway. So why do some black metal bands throw a big “fuck this” and branch out? Were their early ambitions purely performative?

I’m just rambling, as usual. Thy Catafalque is a Hungarian outfit that is considered “avant-garde metal” simply because they started playing black metal, and now they mostly play other things. I think that genre appellation a misnomer, because albums like Vadak are as accessible as it gets for something this niche. Think progressive metal in the vein of Porcupine Tree, only less moody! There’s also lots, LOTS, of traditional metal and speed metal riffage. Also, plenty of minor key stuff that would please the average, say, Iron Maiden fan who might accidentally be listening to this! Honest! Actually, a lot of this sounds like Buckethead at his most ferociously focused. What the average metal fan won’t like is the atmospheric electronica. This is where the Porcupine Tree comparison is really apt, because most of the tracks are awash in the space-y new age stylings of mid-late ’70s Tangerine Dream (aka Steven Wilson’s other wet dream band after Pink Floyd). I love it! I wish more metal bands did that kind of trance krautrock; it usually melds well.

Vadak is a real melting pot of styles. Track 2, “Köszöntsd a hajnalt”, has some, I don’t know, synth accordion? I’m heavily reminded of the really folky dance-folk metal like Eluveitie where they have lutes and wooden flutes and cavort around like Legend of Zelda fairies. “Gömböc” sounds like a guest spot by Venetian Snares, with crazy breakbeats and pulsing electronics (plus Middle-Eastern guitar flourishes). “A kupolaváros titka” has a motherfucking Kenny G smooth sax passage! There’s not much in the way of vocals throughout, but what you get is either typical black metal guttural shrieking, typical epic doom metal clean male vocals, or soft and folky spoken word female vocals.

If you’re looking mainly for a metal album, don’t listen to this, you’ll hate it. If you like progressive/experimental rock, and you’re not afraid to venture into the highly technical or extreme territory, this is really good shit. Check out the other Thy Catafalque albums too, they’re very consistent.

Early Verdict:

Foxing – Draw Down the Moon
(August 6, 2021)

Foxing is a band of unassuming, beardy white guys from St. Louis. As far as what I’ve heard from them, which isn’t much, they play unassuming, beardy white guy indie rock music. The lead singer is a beardy, white guy who sometimes sounds like the guy from TV on the Radio, sometimes the guy from Vampire Weekend, sometimes the guy from Muse, and sometimes that dead guy Elliott Smith. Your beardy, white guy friend from high school will like this album a lot.

What we have here is bare-bones indie rock structured like jaunty pop songs that crescendo into powerful, hooky choruses that repeat enough to really needle into your brain. At least the first half of Draw Down the Moon is like that. The second half shifts gears into wistful, folky sadcore emo ballads. It’s all very by the book, and it’s all stuff you already heard 15 years ago.

That being said, this album is fine. Fine is the highest compliment I’m willing to give it. The power pop hooks do the job, especially on “Bialystok” which contains the album’s strongest melody (“Oh, without you/I feel so homesick everywhere I go!“). The melodrama of stuff like “At Least We Found the Floor” doesn’t land for me, though, catchy as it may be. The wistful acoustic strumming and doleful, hopeless lyrics sound like suburbanites trying to write a sad, bluesy tune from the college dorm before poli-sci class. “Oh God, he’s everywhere I go/He’s in my head like a metronome/Clicking inside my brain/So I can’t find tempo without a little bit of pain“, yeah, give me a break, nerds.

The zeitgeist of 2005 would welcome Draw Down the Moon with open arms. If I had just discovered this album now, and it was actually FROM 2005, I’d like it much, much more in that context. In 2021, the album feels like a complete self-unaware anachronism. Like, who is this album for? Aging 30-somethings who are falling in the trap of “today’s music isn’t as good as the music in my day”?

Early Verdict:

Crumb – Ice Melt
(April 30, 2021)

Crumb is a NYC-based indie dream pop band that, to my ears, sounds like a cross between Beach House and Yo La Tengo. I guess, in a nutshell, that means it has better melodies than Beach House, but worse melodies than Yo La Tengo! In that sense, it does its job. I’m not a Beach House fan, so that’s an amazing start already.

I don’t remember how Crumb got on my radar. To me, they exist in a world of their own right now, independent from associated acts, similar contemporaries, or even widespread publication recognition. The overall sound of Ice Melt is calm, pastoral and sunshiny, but deeply melancholy. There are occasional psychedelic electronic effects, or an occasional scratchy guitar, but it mainly sticks with undistorted indie pop. The band has a drummer, but I find his real contribution dubious. This sounds too crisp and mechanical, like a drum machine. “Jonathan Gilad” is the name of your drum machine, Crumb. Own up to it.

This music is very agreeable, treading dangerously close to easy-listening. I’m reminded of the less abrasive ’90s Elephant 6 collective groups like the Apples in Stereo or Beulah, while the slower-paced lounge haziness brings to mind Stereolab or Broadcast. I don’t think Crumb is as good as any of those bands for the melodies alone. They’re not strong enough to keep me coming back for more. Perhaps it’s not the “point” of the band, considering the laconic vocal delivery and hopelessly sad subject matter, but the small handful of really good bits leaves me wanting. “Trophy” is the best song, Ice Melt‘s single most memorable melody and the first one in the track list where a deliciously groovy bassline is busted out. Then there’s the end of “Tunnel (All That You Had)”, which presents a minor-key coda that repeats an off-putting and spiraling riff, the most intense minute of the album that briefly brings you out of the dream and into the nightmare. I wish that went on longer. Or that there was more of that particular sound.

I can’t complain too hard though. The band has potential; I won’t sleep on Crumb when they put out their third album.

Early Verdict:

Only a handful of weeks left! Time to cram in what I can! Today I have releases from Atmosphere, the War on Drugs, and audiobooks! READ!

Atmosphere – WORD?
(October 8, 2021)

I can’t believe I’ve never actually listened to Atmosphere before. They’ve been on my radar long before I even cared about hip-hop, since they’re associated with the “alternative” or “underground” scene, and god knows those particular words spoke to me at a young age.

I’m not a stranger to their Rhymesayers label, being very well-acquainted with Brother Ali and Eyedea/Abilities. There’s a unique production style to the music that comes out of the Minneapolis area that you can pinpoint right away. It’s not limited to genre, either. You can hear it in Hüsker Dü, the Replacements, even some of Prince’s stuff. Similar to Detroit, it’s this cold and sparse Midwestern grittiness. Atmosphere has a good name, because atmosphere is the first thing I think of. It sounds like Slug and Ant are wearing big, puffy coats and winter beanies. You can probably see Slug’s breath while he raps.

And, also a trademark of Rhymesayers, Atmosphere attempts to seize whatever existential or identity crisis needling them at the moment with bared emotional openness. In the case of WORD?, it’s the crisis of getting old. Tracks like “Something” (“I’m closing in on fifty and my fashion is flagrant/I’m officially too old for these pants to be sagging“) and “Clocked” (“Time’s killing us, time’s killing us/We killing time and time’s killing us“) appear to simultaneously express regret and acceptance while providing some, dare I say, upbeat rhythms? Reminds me of Aesop Rock’s trajectory as an aging hip-hop icon as well. I like it when rappers get old and start spitting rhymes about AARP newsletters and Muselix.

My only nagging gripe is that the main beat from “Distances” is lifted from the chorus of Busdriver’s “Pompous Posies! Your Party’s No Fun” from 2007’s RoadKillOvercoat. Is this just a case of both artists sampling from the same original source material? It’s hard to find this kind of shit online. I’m too tuned in to this kind of thing, perhaps when it comes to hip-hop I have to let it go.

I like this though! Finally, an excuse to dip into the rest of Atmosphere’s large catalog.

Early Verdict:

The War on Drugs – I Don’t Live Here Anymore
(October 29, 2021)

I like the War on Drugs, but I don’t love the War on Drugs. I found both 2014’s Lost in the Dream and 2017’s A Deeper Understanding grossly overrated, nothing more than lush pastiches of Americana that were heavily drawn from, if not completely ripped off from, the likes of Dire Straits and Bruce Springsteen. Just this very down-to-Earth, warm, affable roots rock. A little of it is totally amazing, much of it is merely enjoyable, some of it even a pretty dull. I get it, I just never saw the big deal.

And maybe it’s not a big deal. But after spending the better part of two weeks revisiting and devouring Adam Granduciel’s five-album War on Drugs discography, I think he may have touched on something special here with I Don’t Live Here Anymore. I can’t put my finger on it, other than that all the musical ideas are presented more succinctly and confidently? There’s nothing on this new album that I haven’t heard already as I listen as far back as Wagonwheel Blues. Those layered pianos and lovely guitars and folksy vocals and hooky arpeggios and descending thirds were always there before, but now they’re there…on purpose? They’re there with some force. I find it more gripping and addictive! And, as I weave through the five albums, I come back to this one more often. It feels more familiar than the rest even know I’ve only had mere days to absorb the music.

I think what War on Drugs does best for me, and even more so with this new album, is give me elements to look forward to when I revisit to a song. On “Harmonia’s Dream”, it’s those blaring synth notes that don’t show up until the bridge. On “Victim”, it’s that abrasive psychedelic guitar. On the title track, it’s the female backing vocals from guest pop group Lucius.

Almost all the songs have something, and between certain songs that particular something might be a similar something, but one thing is for certain: having something to look forward to within an album as you’re listening to the album is the hallmark of an instant classic! And I have a lot more to say (which is a good sign, too), but that’s enough for now.

Early Verdict:

audiobooks – Astro Tough
(October 1, 2021)

I became acquainted with this duo when their debut cracked the top ten in the Quietus’ 2018 Albums of the Year list. Like much of what the Quietus loves, I found their debut Now! (in a minute) intriguing after one listen, pleasant after another listen, and then thin and forgettable from listen #3 and beyond. I’m always frustrated by this. What are the Quietus always hearing in their obscure list of top albums every year that I simply do not?

Well, audiobooks (lowercase, because why not?) is still on my radar, and when Astro Tough dropped at the beginning of October I was motivated to give them another fair shot. It’s still the two of them doing the same thing: David Wrench handling the music, Evangeline Ling handling the lyrics and the talking and the singing. Think of them as Dry Cleaning‘s stranger cousin. Both groups employ weaving surreal narratives around catchy punk-influenced beats, but where Dry Cleaning’s musical tapestry draws from post-punk, grunge, alt-rock, and noise rock, audiobooks draws from dance-punk, club, techno, and trance. In either case, it’s a winning formula, and this time around I find an audiobooks album increasingly more enjoyable with each listen instead of the other way around.

The Dry Cleaning connection is immediately obvious with the opening track “The Doll”, where Ling speaks a deadpan story about a little girl who lost her doll, and then the ensuing absurd 911 call that follows, which culminates into a repetition of “So hard/So hard/So hard/…/To let go“. But the metaphor isn’t even the good part. Right after the little girl cries because her doll is gone, Ling says “I had just finished digesting dinner in a Thai restaurant/I was there on my own, comfort eating“, completely exasperated that she’s even involved. Even while empathizing.

But the real fun in Astro Tough is that not every song is like “The Doll”. “LaLaLa It’s the Good Life” is the most obnoxious dance song in recorded history, complete with the worst autotuned chorus ever attempted, and it’s glorious. “Blue Tits” digs up Mark E. Smith’s decomposing bones and slowly shakes, rattles, and rolls them. The part where Ling squeals “But they want your big ass in their faaaaaace!” reminds of The Fall during “New Face in Hell” when Smith yells “New face in hell” so loud that the speakers can’t contain it? Yeah, that. Sure, they fall back on some tricks that work, but the end result is so damn bizarre that the charm itself should keep you going for a few listens before you even realize how good the actual music is.

So, what’s my point? This is the Tom Writes About Stuff “Band to Watch Out For in 20xx”, that’s what! This album took the formula of their debut and improved upon it in every way! Astro Tough will show up somewhere on the Quietus year-end list or I’ll eat my hat with ketchup.

Early Verdict: