The first track on this playlist is a little misleading. I mean, it leads into the rest just fine, but it doesn’t have the burnout feel of many of the other songs. “Luau” is an epic bit of post-hardcore that rides a bass groove for 9 and a half minutes. Guitar parts come and go, yelled verses make way for call-and-response choruses (the “response” part here provided by Rob Crow well before Pinback), and for a bit the guitarists seem to be soloing independently of each other, but that groove does not let up. It’s in 3/4, and I often find that odd time signatures have this asymmetric feel that keeps things moving forwards in the exact same way that walking is really just pushing yourself into a fall and catching yourself before you tumble over. Near the end it almost sounds like the guitars are malfunctioning, and it’s this grittiness that ties into the rest of the playlist.
The fuzz on the guitars here isn’t warm enough to get you into the realm of stoner metal, but it is definitely headed that direction. True Widow calls themselves “stonegaze” if that helps you park it at all, but there’s also this Morricone vibe I get from several of the songs which makes this playlist feel like the background to some sunburnt spaghetti western, all shady characters and uncertain motivations but under a hot sun, not shrouded in darkness.
I included some Rival Schools on here, a band that I didn’t discover until 4 years ago and I think I would have been slightly obsessed with in high school if I’d known about them when United by Fate actually came out. An alternative band after the peak of that scene but before the major label budgets for it dried up, you don’t hear stuff that sounds like it with as much put into its production anymore. Of course I followed it with a song by Fuel, which feels like a troll, but I guess I’m the target, because I did listen to that album a lot in high school. Honestly, it holds up fine. Years later I can hear the bits where they were aiming for radio-friendliness but I can no longer work up much of a lather over whatever I might think that says about their authenticity. (Also I can’t stop hearing how one of the guitar bits in “Bittersweet” sounds like it’s from “Baker Street”, but hey, there’s a Cave In song like that too, so I don’t know that I can paint that as some cringey hack move, at least not without indicting a band most people find less cringey.)
The other band I want to specifically highlight is Lume. I found myself listening to Wrung Out a lot last March and April while I walked weirdly deserted downtown streets, and I’ve kept coming back to it in the year since. I haven’t checked out their new one yet but I really should, and you should too if you like “Lean”.
One last shoutout to Iress, who I wrote about back in October. That album is still good! I hope to see them play it in person before the year is over. It’s starting to feel like a thing that could happen.
Track listing
“Luau”, Drive Like Jehu, Yank Crime
“Red Wolf”, Silver Snakes, Saboteur
“Used for Glue”, Rival Schools, United by Fate
“Bittersweet”, Fuel, Sunburn
“Lean”, Lume, Wrung Out
“Annular Eclipse”, Dust Moth, Rising // Sailing
“FOUR TEETH”, True Widow, Circumambulation
“Render”, Grivo, Elude
“Shamed”, Iress, Flaw
“You’re Early”, 2:54, 2:54
“Ghost of a Glowing Forest”, Spotlights, Seismic