Tag Diving: New York
New York City is a great monument to the power of money and greed… a race for rent.
How’s it hanging, friends? It’s certainly been a minute! I won’t bore you with the details, but I’ve certainly been a busy lad lately! But now that things have at least pretended to calm down, I’m happy to welcome you back to Tag Diving. What? You forgot how this works? Well, it’s the column where I, your frequently-covered-in-dumpster-juice host Reliquary Tower take a shovel to the internet garbage receptacle some call Bandcamp in search of something fun to share. Think of it like dumpster diving, but coming home with tunes instead of an untreatable disease and a brand-new, still dripping with saliva blowgun! Let’s dig in!
Yellow Eyes – Confusion Gate
Did you catch this release last year? You really should have! I’ve heard more than one internet denizen say that Yellow Eyes are the standard by which they judge the rest of the North American black metal scene. Not a bad pick! This album got some pretty good reviews last year, and I can see why. It’s atmospheric, moody, unsettling, and has some really neat acoustic passages. Check these guys out, and don’t skimp on that back catalogue!
BAAG – Chasing a Slow Horse
This album RULES and I hope they’re doing tapes soon! BAAG are a 5-piece blackened hardcore band with some SERIOUS riffs! If you at all like the sound of that, this whole album is only 17 minutes, so just click play already. What more do you need to hear?
Couch Slut – You Could Do It Tonight
I’ll give a genuine warning that this album might not be for the faint of heart. If you’re at all familiar with Couch Slut, you’re probably aware that they don’t shy away from the uglier aspects of the human experience. Sexual abuse, drug use, and self-harm are all pretty frequent lyrical themes for this band. If you’ve got the stomach for it, this record is as unnerving as they come. Hellish vocals, dissonant guitar riffs, overdriven bass tones, and an atmosphere that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up make for a really intense noise rock experience that I’ll probably come crawling back to again and again, no matter how tense it makes me feel.
