#texis

Nobody cares when a line gets crossed

Nobody cares when a life gets lost

And lives do get lost

Farm witch friends, it’s time to make your picks and rec some fics!

Dear listener, if you offer me ordinary pop music, I will reflexively kick you in the gonads and book it in the opposite direction. However, if you offer me pop music interlaced with elements of metal, punk, and hip-hop… I’m going to do a double take, carefully examine the melodious product in question, and reassess my conclusions on what the tentative limits are in modern music. As long as you don’t have any issues with strobe lights, smash play on the above track, Demons from the 2012 album Reign of Terror. The featured band this week is Sleigh Bells, who, for over a decade-and-a-half have practiced an overdriven, experimental version of pop which regularly incorporates the fundamentals of digital hardcore, industrial rock, and electro.

After years of personal listenership, I am confident that SB can give you everything you want, and more, from modern pop music. Like most pop tunes, the sound is structured around hooks (the peak-altitude of a song, whether it be the melody, the lyrics, or the repetitive composition of instrumentals) crafted to a sharp, absolute, and prominent apex. I LOVE exploring the catalogs of experimental bands… particularly when you catch me by surprise and show me a pop music product that I can actually immerse myself in. Over the last decade or so, Sleigh Bells has provided me with utter bliss, utter joy, utter pain, and a rough ride filled with ups-and-downs, but most importantly… an overall experience that I want to be a part of! It’s pop music that has the capacity to appeal to everyone, not just teenage girls, because the music manages to have a semblance of * universal meaning*. Their tunes are the very definition of sweet-and-sour chicken, only delivered entirely in an audio format, and dammit all, it tastes mostly sweet! A noise pop duo, based out of Brooklyn, NY, has managed to accomplish within a decade and a half what the rest of you limp-dicked, corporately funded pop music jabronis can’t seem to do; immerse the listener in pop music that *actually innovates* for a change. All over their discography, you can find personally resonant tunes that manage to successfully communicate complex ideas and emotions. If you want pop music with an unapologetic nonconformist twist, immerse yourself in something that sounds different for a change. If you like what you heard above, click below for some work by SB that is laced with slightly more traditional pop elements, Rosary from their 2021 album Texis.