I'm making up for a long-overdue (now found) tag from @rivetgoth and here is the original receipt!
As many of you read, I fought through seasonal depression, and my music quotient and habits have gone up again. Thatâs something I needed back. Iâm shifting into connoisseur mode and listing (a diverse range of) 10 albums I recently listened to.I donât do this like I used to, so youâre all in for a real treat. And if you behave, I might do more.
# 1: Mercy Girl Closer. I prefer my synthwave to be all seriousness. No games, no fun, no gimmicks. No doubt why Mercy Girl sit at the top of this list. They have that sinister, deeply seductive quality like Balvanera, Boy Harsher, and Ratpajama before them. All five songs they released (now collected here) hit, and they bring an intense energy not many can deliver. All in.
# 2: Cashier The Weight. High-flying, electrically-surged shoegaze thatâs not afraid to get their own sound dirty. Kylie Gaspardâs vocal register on the upbeat âPart From Meâ along with her and Joseph Perilloâs drag-and-pull guitar riffs help make that track the crown jewel of the album.
# 3: SDH Rider. I forgot to mention this duo when talking about serious synthwave acts. Please send Andrea Perez and Sergei Alejandre my apologies. It didnât take long for them to follow up Fake Is Real with this newest outing. I can find you at least five tracks that are bonafide replays. Rider is that damn good that I recommended this to @tewz.
# 4: Fib Heavy Lifting. Hereâs nine reasons that describe perfectly how todayâs post-punk / art-rock / d.i.y. (whatever you call it) should be; art concept included. Itâs been like that for as long as I was into this genre or style of sound via my former colleagues at my radio station; and Iâm happy Fib continues that tradition.
# 5: Das Nest self-titled. Lord, how I love Diat and Clock Of Time. You had me fooled that this was another one of vocalist Chris Ontonâs projects. It closely sounds like him, but itâs not. Rather, there are some people comparing this as one of Killing Jokeâs lost albums (if there were such a thing, one can hope!) based on riffs alone. Still, this is one of many albums I feel that capture that d.i.y. spirit. Hear âLegion Of Shadowsâ, âNoise Of Timeâ, and âNew Normalâ and youâll know this flies right off.
# 6: Resolution 88 Vortex. What?! A â24 jazz album that sounds like it was made in the mid-Seventies? If so, then this is one hell of a tribute to that era. My cut-off is â82 and that would say a lot. A fellow dee-jay from my station played âFinal Approachâ and immediately I couldâve swore that was the grand-daughter of Kool & The Gangâs âSummer Madnessâ. Vortex stayed with me since that one cold January day where I up and drove out to Buddha Belly Records and itâs never left me since.
# 7: R-Zac Trailer Trax. Without Beastie Boysâ Mike D introducing us to Alec Empire, none of us in the states would be breakbeat fans from the get-go. Thatâs a hill Iâll fucking die on. Heâs what got me into this mess of jungle, gabber, speedcore, and acid in the first place. R-Zac happened around the time when breakbeat emerged, and Trailer Trax shows it. Itâs an endless endurance mode of all-out ultra high-speed sonic warfare that just keeps going when you no longer canât. âDance To The Leaderâ gives me Not Breathingâs âEmprov Aceed Garboshâ feels, along with the usual police-state vibes scattered all throughout. Itâs a heavy stomper, Iâll say that.
# 8: Witch Trials, The self-titled. Wow. No shit when youâre told that this is undisputably Jello Biafraâs creepiest moment. Itâs evident beyond a shadow of a doubt once you hear âTrapped In The Playgroundâ, and Eric Boucher stops short at all-time stalkerish and disturbing levels. Or, âThe Taserâ, pre-dating his political spoken-word albums with a sinister take on a then-new police weapon. What else is he doing here? Is he also holding celebratory synthpunk sermon get-downs (âMeat Beatâ), too? Itâs an unavoidable oddball curiosity thatâs interesting enough to wonder where this post-Dead Kennedyâs UK tour project stands. Industrial, maybe? Youâd be right. After all, he did attend Throbbing Gristleâs final show at his hometownâs Kezar Pavilion.
# 9. Exit Electronics I'm Your Beggar. Enter Justin Broadrickâs newest solo project, where pulsating low-end rumbles verges into hang over rhythmic noise to shit-your-pants levels. Wake up in a city totally obliterated beyond recognition to post-Judgment Day levels, and confront Broadrick's totally hellish screams that usher in The New Beginning. Invasions donât wait for anything. They just go as planned and keep going with no regard for human safety.
#10: Conflict Increase The Pressure. 29 tracks at under an hour, but it feels like forever when youâre listening to the UK â06 re-issue that may be one of the busiest and hardest-working (and âfought) punk documents out there.
Not calling on anyone to do this, but please do. Play at your own risk!















