#james fella

1/11/25.

Soft Shoulder must be one of Tempe, Arizona's most known bands. We first posted about them in 2015, and they released new material as recently as 2023. Their Discogs page (their profile states, "No-Wave / Junk-Kraut from thee Sonoran Desert with satellite members in Oakland, Montreal, Berlin, etc.") boasts 33 releases. That said, this band is still decidedly under the radar. There is no entry at all on AllMusic. I did find several references to the band on Maximum Rock N Roll.

Our initial post mentioned both Eddy Current Suppresion Ring and Diat. There is a lot of noise here - but I would say this is closer to The Fall, Spray Paint and Blank Realm. These songs are short though. I was surprised how quickly each side of the LP ended.

ROCK BLOTTER: Soft Shoulder

For this edition of PHX SUX’s local music column, I listened to Soft Shoulder’s latest LP. Here’s my thoughts on their Songs and Intermissions LP (along with some tangents on music books and Silver Apples). PHX SUX: Soft Shoulder, Silver Apples, and The Sweet Sound of Entropy    

♫ Listen: James Fella – Inactive Parts

When the instruments of metal and stings, sinew, hair, wood, bone all melt in the cauldron, don’t even think about the sound to finalize. The sizzling and eruption of cries for help as it all sludges into one form. Pour it all out into a mold of some new instrument. One that is all the instruments, instrument. The banal and climactic. The savage and stagnant. Romantic and drastic. That ringing…