Flush It Friday: And am I Still Itty? And am I Still Bitty?
I swear I’m gonna do things differently this year.
A friend sent me “Cowboying” on a lark in December because it uses the word “capacious,” a word I overuse. Turns out, Max Garcia Conover’s deeply felt, lightly ironized dusky vocals and Haley Heynderickx’s soft melodies and bright voice all add up to my favourite folk record I’ve heard in years. Put on “Song for Alicia” and hope like hell every person whoever joined or joins ICE will be held accountable. Put on “In Bulosan’s Words” and give something to somebody who needs anything. Put on “Buffalo, 1981” and think about what might’ve been and probably won’t be but could.
I’m gonna write about Bad Beat every time Bad Beat releases an album, because Bad Beat can’t release anything that isn’t worth writing about. Even though LP 2025 just came out in May, we’re all still takin’ the worst bad beats of our lives. The game’s rigged and the cards don’t matter, so hit the fuckin’ stomp. ROLL THE DICE. WE DON’T PLAY NICE. TAKE YOUR HEART. SHOW YOUR CARDS. PRESS YOUR LUCK. YOU’RE FAKE AS FUCK. BAD BEAT’S FUCKIIIIIIIIIIII’N REAL. Yeah it’s all Outbreak and Rampage and Righteous Jams, but do I detect a hint of Cruel Hand now?
Let’s list Nadia Tydings-Lynch’s bands: Goetia, Blood Monolith, Deliriant Nerve, Brain Tourniquet, Corvo, and, now, Pray To Be Saved. Well, “now” as in “since at the very least May.” Sometimes a demo does what it says it does. Riffs are ripped as fast as possible through a Boss HM-2; drumbeats are blasted just as fast; and the whole thing is an homage to Extreme Noise Terror. “When when when will we learn?” Over and over, in a Sisyphean manner, except there is no finding comfort in it. It feels wrong to listen to this not through a broken tape deck.
Featuring members of Sulaco and hailing from Rochester, NY, Feel Worse play something like a bummer. Jason Leone’s vocals on “Elbow Party,” in particular, sound like the blueprint for Patrick Kindlon. Or, at least, I hear a lot of Self Defense Family’s pleading darkness from Try Me or Heaven is Earth in between the Slint-shaped, Melvins-dripped sludgy post-hardcore of the rest of This Will Weigh Heavily On Your Annual Appraisal. “Break the Ice” has the rambling narrative quality of Chat Pile, even if the bands don’t sound alike. I’d like to see Feel Worse on tour with Null. Feels right.
I’ll accept it’s my fault that Fiadh is selling out of tapes before I can get to them. In fact, I’m happy for them. It’s great! Did I want a cappuccino-shell cassette in a clear/white case of Signal Abnormality? Of course not. I would never want an album from the person behind Damhnait, whose red-shelled cassette on Fiadh is also sold out. I’m fine! Neoclassical ambient based around the cello haunts and heals in equal measure. Treat your ears and treat your wounds. Clean your feathers and sharpen your beak. The night is long and dark, so be ever ready.
But not quite yet. Let’s Flush.
We Pressed on Monday with Stick, just as we Toileted on Tuesday with Roldy.
More lists! Megachiles, who was wrong to exclude Friarbird, brought us the 20 best dungeon synths records of 2025.
Voided Grimace gave the new Ulver three flaming toilets, but then Ulver decided it actually deserved four flaming toilets, so I don’t know what to do now.
Toilet Radio 601 features Jor ‘n Joedan bringin’ a stone cold classic.
Brock Samson, of Operation: Rusty’s Blanket fame, has a list of freaky shit to start the new year. All of these are good.
It’s never too late to share what you did or look forward to what you will do, so Sean Ghoulson hit us with a little Maryland Death Fest look-back/look-ahead two-step. It’s the God Shammgod of show reviews.
I didn’t even say “Form of an Owl” in my Form of an Owl itty bitty-review. Did you notice? Let us know along with your GBUs in the comments.
