100% Support: Bandcamp Friday Meets Extended Play
Bandcamp Friday is back!
On February 4, Bandcamp is bringing back the beloved Bandcamp Friday promotion, waiving their cut of purchases made for the day. Can’t be bothered to listen to an entire album but still want to support some righteous artists? Don’t fret! Extended Play is here to extend your pleasure while extinguishing your wallet. 5 albums, 100 words, one reason: to share with you some things I have thoroughly enjoyed to start 2022.
Si Dios Quiere – Sol Y Guerra
Released in January on a white-shelled cassette with handsomely laid-out insert via New Morality Zine, Chicago’s Si Dios Quiere’s Sol Y Guerra is a visceral exploration of the band’s life on the Southside. Highlighting the inherent ambiguities and ambivalences of life, Sol Y Guerra isn’t about sun or war—beauty or tragedy—but rather about how both are forever always present, tied together inextricably. Si Dios Quiere infuses their concrete-tough hardcore with stomping thrash to create a crucial crossover concoction, one that headbangs as much as it slam dances. Think of Biohazard’s Urban Discipline updated for a new urban blight.
Lament – Morris
Morris is a tribute to the sweet pup gracing the EP’s cover. Fans of Aereogramme, God is an Astronaut, and Hammock will certainly perk up their scruffy ears to take note of the dreamy orchestration and melodramatic beauty. Strings pierce, swirl, and swell around a bedrock of wistful, teary-eyed post-rock. While “Morning Walk” and “Daydreaming” are entirely instrumental, “The Last Winter” delivers a heart-wrenching and poetic goodbye, and the album closes with a haunting and rich cover of Coil’s “Going Up.” “It’s time to go forever,” croons Lament, coaxing Morris out for one last walk that will last many lifetimes.
Nogothula – Gore Vortex Ascension
Oh, right. This is a metal blog! I sometimes forget. The quiet gurgling in “Anguish” is the only minute of Gore Vortex Ascension that isn’t all gas, no breaks blackened death metal. Hailing from the land of Joe Burrow and Skyline Chili and featuring members of Verment and Valdrin, Nogothula is, like the aforementioned quarterback and meal, a youthful and beautiful abomination. While a few moments of death/doom irrupt in Gore Vortex Ascension, it’s mostly speed and brutality, calling to mind a stripped-down Immolation. If the cassettes run out before you can order one, maybe I’ll send you my copy!
Home Front – Think of the Lie
Released all the way back in December 2021, Think of the Lie is an effusion of life, love, and loss. Throbbing 808s, scything synths, shimmering guitars, and menacing vocals call to mind The Cure, New Order, Suicide, and early Depeche Mode. “A Bit of Dust” is propulsive and almost industrial in its rage, while “Focus” and “Security” are sneering middle fingers to the state of the world. Think of the Lie is as angry as it is playful, though, as the album strikes a cheeky balance between fury, ennui, and joy. Just “think of the future” and dance with me.
Teeth – Finite
Perhaps Lacertilian said it best back in December, but I could not led Teeth’s Finite pass by without at least a nominal review. The Curse of Entropy was an overwhelming blitz of death metal madness at the end of 2019, and the band thought they could sneak this little EP by us at the end of last year. Though perhaps a bit more restrained than Curse of Entropy, Finite is just as furious and as unforgiving. This is a tight and laser-focused record that is bursting forth with unbelievably heavy moments. Listen to “Concubine” and hold on for dear life.
Support artists.
Support each other.
Jam cool tunes.
Jam cool tunes together.
