I'm going to do some like, capital B Blogging and talk about 3 music releases I've loved this year. It's like they're taking me out for one last good day before I'm sent to pasture.
the Mountain Goats - Charlie Sheen Reaches Out to the Feds
Absolutely incredible first single for what looks like it's going to be a new album this year. John Danielle sings about the real life(maybe) incident of Charlie Sheen getting so scared by a horror movie that he reaches out to the FBI to investigate the filmmakers.
"Do you see what I see? There's no way all that's fake. Only so much a good man can take"
He treats Charlie Sheen like a heroic figure ready to take on an insidious evil that only he is brave enough to challenge. The fact that the evil is the completely fictional slasher film "Guinea Pig 2: flower of flesh and blood" is totally immaterial to his righteous quest.
FEMTANYL - MAN BITES DOG
"I pride myself on missing forest for the trees"
INCREDIBLE first full album from electronica/nightmare pop duo Femtanyl. They've released a ton of singles and a couple EPs prior to this that are excellent in their own right but Man Bites Dog has more of a consistent sonic through line that makes the whole album flow together really nicely. Nice is not the word generally applied to this kind of grinding, peaking, fast and harsh electronica but if that's your kind of thing it's absolutely at the top of it's class. Small class but they've fucking nailed it in my opinion. I hear inspiration from Nine Inch Nails, KMFDM and Stomach Book, but it's very much its own creative vision.
Cheekface - 4 singles
Cheekface has released 4 songs off their new album so far and every one of them is fun and weird in their own way.
BLACK SITE:
"If you're the last to leave could you put out the burning flag?"
Who among us is not worried about becoming famous for being grabbed by the US government and taken to a black site? The subject is dark but it's treated with a sardonic kind of "it's going to happen to me but you gotta keep burning American flags it's what I would have wanted" attitude towards it. Punk music made by self styled anxious yuppies
MFT
"No laws rules or regulations- require you to call the cops"
DARKER thematically than most of their music. The premise hinges on 2 people venting their frustration about not being able to talk about "wanting to make it all stop" without being hauled off by police after their therapist calls for a wellness check. Grim but intimate
I DON'T WORK HERE
"I'm not a war profiter! I'm not a war profiter! I don't work here... Anymore"
Maybe the most fun song they've put out of the batch. Not much to say that isn't covered by the quote. Song maintains an angry and shame fueled energy, very Judas Iscariot coded.
HOSTILE STREET
"What if we kissed? What if we held hands? What if we kissed and held hands on the HOSTILE STREET FURNITURE!"
Tumblr user bait that unfortunately works on me. They're just having such a good time that you can't be mad at them being the corniest motherfuckers on earth
Very excited for Podium and the new mountain goats album. It's been a pretty challenging year but it's been a wonderful year for finding music.
