Matt Hall - Slave Task

If there’s one thing I want from my punk rock these days, it’s intensity. Loud, fast, unforgiving. No bullshit. I want rumbling bass and sloppy power chords and spit-soaked vocals. These are the things that endeared me to punk as a kid, and though my musical tastes have since blossomed, I still find myself craving that noisy, belligerent energy. Luckily, the new EP Slave Task by NY’s Matt Hall has just the fix I was chasing.

Slave Task sounds like it was recorded live at a DIY house show—I can practically hear the sea of sweaty kids roiling in front of the band. The guitar thrashes fast power chords through a dirty overdrive. The drums smash out cut beats at hectic tempos, working the crash cymbals to the point of cracking. The bass squeals through a fuzz on par with radio static, the gain cranked so not a cent of amp noise is lost. The wavering keys sew in a creepy atmosphere as they tip back and forth between melody and noise.

Everything about this delightfully raw, and the vocals are no exception. Matt barks, growls, whines and screeches, delivering every word with a severe, almost venomous sarcasm. The lyrics are devoid of any pretense or pomp, calling out Steven Tyler’s problematic past in “You (Stolen) Future is Now” and smacking down those whiny “Punk is Dead” dinosaurs in “Obvious Trap:” “Let someone else experience for themselves, without your fucking commentary.”

The whole of Slave Task is an indictment of the bizarre and contradictory world we live in, but no song beats this drum as heavily as “Normal and Healthy.” Twice as long as all its bedfellows, this tune expertly captures the feeling of living in a dystopia. Above syncopated riffs and ringing keyboard chords, Hall scrapes hard questions from the inside of his throat: “How real does it have to be before you react?” “Will you kill to live?” The band then devolves into an absolutely maddening outro, repeating the same simplistic riff and beat over and over and over like some sort of fucked up mantra. “Normal and Healthy” is anything but, a trance-inducing counterpoint to the chaos of our days.

Slave Task is an inspiring homage to punk’s early days and early ways, updated for the 21st century struggle we’re all too damn familiar with. The riffs are fast, the energy utterly relentless. Matt Hall gives us a refreshingly fearless take on the aggression and brutal honesty so inherent in punk rock. So if you’re looking for a dose of adrenaline cut with unbridled fury, look no further; Slave Task will keep you hyped and hungry for more. 

My Top Track: "Normal and Healthy"

You can find more from Matt Hall and grab your own copy of Slave Task on their Bandcamp page.

Nalani Proctor - Nothing

As a singer-songwriter, I know how hard it is to carve out a niche that is uniquely you—especially when you’re doing it all on your own. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with someone singing their guts out while strumming an acoustic guitar; for a lot of musicians, these are their only tools for performance. And there’s nothing more DIY than using what little you have to make a lot.

Yet it’s surprising how when these same singer-songwriters are given the means to expand their recordings beyond their live sound, so many of them squander the opportunity. Rather than risk a new or bold arrangement to bring new life to a song, they stick to their safety sound, maybe slapping a little keyboard or accent strings in a few places and calling it a day. Part of the beauty of being a solo artist is embracing the inherent autonomy provided by not having to play along with anyone else. It’s an idea so many artists are afraid to explore, but Nalani Proctor embodies this ideal wholeheartedly on their latest LP Nothing.

From my first listen, it became terribly clear just how personal of a record Nothing is, and just how much went into shaping it. Each of the eleven tracks features a wholly unique arrangement, tailored to the song’s energy and emotional content. The ukulele strumming through “Go To Sleep” lulls along with a string section and a distant horn, while “Every Little Morning” contrasts a sulky acoustic guitar with a growling distorted synth. “Opinions” starts with a whisper of guitar and programming before culminating in a burst of thumping drums and grinding distortion. And though each song almost strives to sound different from its bedfellows, they are all anchored together by Nalani’s graceful and emphatic vocals.

Nalani Proctor has a fearlessness pervading each song on Nothing; every decision and performance is severely confident without sacrificing truth. To me, this is no more apparent than in “The Fool,” a ballad with sharpened claws. The instrumentation is driven by a piano and string arrangement, the band rising and falling like gentle waves. Yet Nalani’s vocal on the track is anything but tender. The melody seems sung almost through clenched teeth, admonitions delivered with restraint towards the “champion of silence.” Each word hovers just beyond patience, each syllable tinged with frustration yet delivered with powerful honesty. “The Fool” places elegance against exasperation in perfect harmony, combining them into one of the most painfully truthful and fierce pieces I’ve heard in a long while.

For an album bearing the title Nothing, there sure is a hell of a lot here to unpack and enjoy. Nalani Proctor’s music turns composition into a weapon, sharpening each song to a distinctive point that cuts right to the heart of the matter. Nothing shows a singer-songwriter really exploring the depths of opportunity inherent in their own music, bringing each piece to its full potential using arrangement and composition. It’s ambitious, audacious even, but even more so fearless, and that above all else is what listeners are going to hear, and love.

My Top Track: "Opinions"

You can find more from Nalani, including upcoming shows and news, at nalaniproctor.com. Then head over to Spotify to stream Nothing, or grab your own copy on Bandcamp.

Mickey Blurr - DIONYSUS, PART I

I’m all about music that is rich with intellectual wit and emotional honesty; the latter is the pretty much only thing I want from a record anymore. But so too do I enjoy an album that gets me moving, whose catchy rhythms and contagious melodies are the only focus, an invitation to just let it all go for a few moments on the dancefloor.

These two types of music might seem wholly antithetical to each other. I certainly used to think so. But Mickey Blurr’s debut EP DIONYSUS, PART I soaks pop-driven bangers in wit and intellect, making for a remarkably addictive listening experience.

DIONYSUS feels almost anachronistic in its composition: the bright guitars, upbeat drums and layered vocals feel so reminiscent of 80’s post-punk, as if Joe Strummer rose up to front the Smiths. Yet there is nothing old or derivative about Mickey Blurr’s music—the dynamic compositions and rapid-fire lyrics carry the ethos of our modern maddened age. Mickey mixes in explosive instrumental moments such as the driving post-chorus riff in “Edward in Oz” or the funk-laden bassline leading the opening track, the band buoying the energy to ecstatic heights that keep the head banging and the hips moving.

DIONYSUS, PART I is definitely a danceable record, but the lyrics examine this party atmosphere under a more critical light. The chorus to “SATYR DAY IV: the boys” overflows with imagery of excess: “Drink up / Pop some, get it, don’t regret it,” yet the verses pull the party down to dismal scenes of sitting alone and one-sided conversations. “BADSTAR” opens into a warzone full of violence and fear, yet by the second verse, the speaker is focused on finding “another drink or two to dull away the pain;” and by the end, neither the suffering and the coping mechanisms bring any real emotion: “I wanna feel anything.” DIONYSUS, PART I cultivates the hedonistic atmosphere of its namesake, refracting wanton writing through the lens of 21st century nihilism, reaching for any feeling but always returning empty.

DIONYSUS, PART I is the soundtrack to an evening out, the drum beats scoring drunken dancefloors and sultry one-night stands. The songs are intricate, impassioned, and above all infectious—I cannot impart to you the amount of times “PANIC” and “BADSTAR” have been stuck in my head since I first heard them. Mickey Blurr combines keen lyrics and musical flair to create an atmosphere that is simultaneously debauched and introspective. And if PART I is a dancefloor panic attack, I can’t wait to see what mania the next record will contain.

My Top Track: “PANIC”

You can find more from Mickey Blurr, including upcoming shows and news, on Facebook. Then head over to Bandcamp to download a copy of DIONYSUS, PART I, or stream it directly on Spotify.

Shake the Baby til the Love Comes Out - in a pretty suit

As a musician, math rock scares me sometimes. The very essence of such technical music is, well, its technicality—its driven by knowledge, and it’s terribly easy to listen to a band cutting up complex time signatures at lightning speeds and feel like they’re just flexing their music degrees at the rest us plebs. But this means such intellectual music needs heart, needs the human experience, more than ever, and few understand this as well as NY’s Shake the Baby Til the Love Comes Out, whose debut record in a pretty suit distills the chaos of existence into song. 

For only a two-piece, Shake the Baby sound massive, a juggernaut of tone and technicality that goes far beyond odd time signatures and jazzy progressions. The guitar guides the compositions all across the sonic map; “Little Spoon, Big Ego” wails with gritty, ultra-dissonant chords, while “Also Vomit” features one of the most moving melodic intros I’ve ever heard. The drums are just as maddening: “Utility Myth” places swing cymbal hits and thundering toms right next to blastbeats, while the hectic hihat work steering “Mine is Viscera” is nearly anxiety-inducing. 

Shake the Baby Til the Love Comes Out play their instruments with incredible ease, but what’s even more impressive is their innate understanding of tension and release. Their songs undulate between emotive melodics and harsh, grinding riffs; between fluid beats that carry the ear across the kit and haphazard smashing that mimics a five-car pileup. “Someone for Everything” opens with a colorful progression before warping into rasping chords, syncopated hits, and galloping double kick hits. Deceptive pauses pop up between periods of noisy thrashing, turning the song’s beat into an arrhythmic heart desperately trying to get back on track.

Each moment of anarchy on in a pretty suit is precise and masterful; Shake the Baby wield searing distortion and blistering dissonance like weapons, embracing the chaos that is inherent in music and using it to build tension as the song evolves. Their constant alternation between compelling beauty and reckless noise makes each tune play like a horror movie, lulling you with gentle conversation and then forcing you to jump as the killer stabs their way across the screen.

Shake the Baby til the Love Comes Out are making music that is manic and unpredictable, and in a pretty suit is calculated insanity at its finest. Their riffs are fun, their songs full of flair, yet all cut with a healthy dose of noise and chaos. Best of all, every tune is earnest—I can hear how much fun this band has making their music, and it’s that type of honesty that connects with fans. This act is bringing the heart back to an often-heartless genre, and wherever they take it next, I will surely be following them. 

My Top Tracks: “Someone for Everything

 

You can find more from Shake the Baby Til the Love Comes Out, including upcoming shows and news, on their Facebook page. Then head over to Bandcamp and snag your own copy of in a pretty suit.

God Program - Fragments of Illusion

While I grew up listening to metalcore, it’s a genre I thought was basically dead. Ten years of local shows with six bands playing nearly-identical riffs had taken its toll. Mainstream bands grew to avoid the sound entirely, or traded it in for a strange, loathsome pop-metal hybrid and radio play. The brutal and brusque energy that I’d loved had become sterile and store-brand, so I gave up on it. To me, metalcore was dead, and honestly, I was glad for it.

Then God Program dropped their debut EP Fragments of Illusion last fall, and made me stuff those sentiments right back in my mouth.

Fragments is furious and fearless, six songs of unbridled energy. The band’s performances are tight and technical, thundering drum beats and chugging guitars coupling into one continuously ruthless machine. Fierce screams coat the instrumentation with the human condition, punctuated by gentle and tasteful singing that spreads the emotion beyond pure fury. There is no shortage of intensity on Fragments of Illusion—every song hits like a shot of adrenaline stabbed through the breastbone.

Fragments is as original as it is ferocious; God Program keeps their debut record evolving and growing even as it spins. “What Trigonometry Couldn’t Solve” plays with dynamics by juxtaposing noisy distorted chords with moments of silence, while “Dostoyevsky vs. the Long Island Sound” slaps catchy melodic choruses against pummeling palm mutes and double-bass patterns. The grinding of ”Exposure Therapy” practically collapses into “Scorpio Rising,” an acoustic-driven tune that eschews volume and virulence for sad beauty without sacrificing the powerful performances that make God Program’s music so damn compelling.

God Program have taken a dying sound (dead to me, at least) and yanked it back from the brink. Their music is honest and driving, much more a defiant shout of life for this genre than the death rattle I expected. Fragments of Illusion is an incredible effort by a very talented act, and if this is just their debut, I can’t wait to see what chaos they cook up next.

My Top Track: “Exposure Therapy”

You can find more from God Program, including upcoming tour dates and news, by following their  Instagram @godxprogram. Fragments of Illusion is streaming on Spotify and available for purchase on Bandcamp.

Song Spotlight: "Collective Thoughts" by From Elsewhere

Emo and punk music have a tendency to thrash and to smash—not that there’s anything wrong there. Cut beat drums, searing power chords, and shouted vocals lead to the mosh pits we know and love. Yet they leave very little room for anything else. One weapon left almost untouched by such music is groove: dynamic shifts and attentive writing that add a fluidity to the music, an energy that moves the listener even as it moves the song. Groove gets largely ignored by emo and punk, but not with Indiana’s From Elsewhere, whose latest single “Collective Thoughts” functions on the very principal that punk can sway as hard as it can slam. 

“Collective Thoughts” is a swirl of interlocking guitar riffs and drum beats, every instrument seamlessly intertwined in an emotive dance. The bass treads playfully along its own melody as the band dips between dynamic breaks, the composition undulating like ocean waves. The band hangs back for the verses, letting the soft rasped vocals float at the surface until the explosive chorus crashes into existence. 

The chorus poses the question “Would you tell them all your secrets / when they don’t give a fuck about them?” almost like a challenge, kicking the chorus to life with profanity that invites the gritty chords and chugging rhythm section to carry the tune along. “Collective Thoughts” is a tune that evolves as it goes, the intelligent compositional choices creating momentum for a band locked into a powerful and particularly unique groove. 

The indie-punk riffs and casually emotional lyrics of “Collective Thoughts” coalesce into a tune that is too danceable for its own good, and yet as introspective as a dream journal. From Elsewhere approach their songs with an intensity that is both powerful and restrained; they crank the energy up slowly as they go, letting their drum fills and catchy rhythms sink their teeth in before dragging the listener down into the depths of the song. This is a band that understands the importance of thought in music, and how it relays feeling; so I wouldn’t be surprised to see From Elsewhere making big waves in the near future. 

You can find more info on From Elsewhere on their Facebook page. They just dropped their debut EP, Just Like the Sun, featuring “Collective Thoughts” on Spotify. You can also download the single from their Bandcamp page.

Will Grayson - Yet What Else After All

All art strives to bring its audience somewhere, to create an experience that is both novel and immersive. No small task for any medium. As a lover of music, I have no trouble letting a song or a record take me away, but it is rare that I am absorbed by the music, carried into a world that is both brand new and painfully familiar. And that is exactly what happens every time I start spinning the new full-length by Will Grayson, Yet What Else After All, an expansive journey through youth and memory.

Will Grayson is a solo musician who thinks like an orchestra, and the instrumentation on Yet What Else After All really has the feel of a symphony. The record is a splay of different dynamics and textures, placing grinding, near-dissonant rock anthems next to wounded acoustic ballads. Even the songs themselves feature dramatic, almost violent shifts: “Like a Death” is a panic attack juxtaposed with a daydream, while “Angels’ Wills and Diana’s Pills” jumps from jangly 4/4 indie-pop into a jolt of mathy and fuzzed-out rock.

In juxtaposition to this cacophony of sounds are the vocals on Yet What Else After All. The melodies are gentle, like the scrawl of a pencil as it writes, and that is just what his voice is doing. Will Grayson uses rapid-fire rhyme and multiple literary devices to brighten his language and delivery, all sung in a soulful croon. His lyrics are feathered strokes of the human experience, delving into the depths of relationships and the tangled messes that they can become.

Lines like “You know why / I’m callin’ tonight / because I can’t win that fight / if I have to face you” or “Your passive reaction / smacks of a pyrrhic attack” expertly capture the tiny intensities and anxieties that often manifest in relationships. Yet it’s not all misery; the lines “Last night I tried to tell you why / I became such an ambivalent guy / oh well, okay, alright” cheekily introduce the concept of ambivalence before immediately bringing it to life within the song.

Yet What Else After All plays like flipping the pages of a photo album. Each song captures an experience in sickly-sweet detail that pulls from the past those ghost notes of nostalgia. There are parts heavy and yet beautiful, moments of clarity next to fuzzy yet familiar feelings. Will Grayson has managed to press a dream to a record, and each listen has me dizzy like the moments just after waking up, trying to remember specifics but finding only deep emotions instead. It keeps sucking me back in, and I have no doubt it will do the same to you.

My Top Track: “Because He’s Hiding Something”

You can find more from Will Grayson via his Instagram page, @willgrayson. Then head to Spotify to stream Yet What Else After All, or hit his Bandcamp page to purchase your own copy.

Destroy All Music Presents: Going Home

The DIY music scene is one of the most committed and fostering communities I’ve ever been lucky to be part of, but it’s a community in trouble. The very nature of DIY requires continuous effort from artists, promoters, fans and venues, and this last piece, the DIY space—arguably the most imperative of all—is in danger of disappearing. Issues like unavailability or unaffordability of space and the ever-present threat of shutdown from cranky neighbors or authority figures are taking their toll on the existence of DIY venues.

Without a safe space to create and promote and perform, artists and their art also become threatened. But CT label/distro/collective Destroy All Music is striving to reverse the damage with the release of their new compilation Going Home.

Though still a relatively young project, Destroy All Music have already proven themselves a pivotal part of CT’s DIY music scene. Besides regularly hosting and promoting shows, their very first compilation released earlier this year forwarded all proceeds to the victims of California’s vicious wildfires, so it’s no surprise that they’ve organized a similar campaign to support their own community. And that’s why every penny collected from sales goes directly to supporting important DIY venues in New England.

Going Home is packed with tunes from seminal New England acts, reflecting the massive spectrum of genres and styles this region has to offer. Like Destroy All Music, these acts are all banding together to breathe life into their community, donating their tunes to the record and the cause. Compilations like this not only provide a gateway into the many artists honing their craft in New England, but bring those scattered sects of the DIY community together, reminding us that we are all working towards the same goal despite the distances between us.

Destroy All Music and the many talented bands on Going Home are the very essence of the DIY scene, coming together and leading the way to keep their community alive and thrashing. If you’ve ever been to a basement show or “asked a punk” where to catch your favorite touring act, you know how important this community is. How creative. How resilient.

DIY is where every band starts, where your favorite artist started. So pick up a copy of this comp today, and help make sure there’s always a space for artists to grow, and for fans to support them.

Going Home is available digitally on Destroy All Music’s Bandcamp page. You can also grab physical copies starting December 1st from Destroy All Music's distro or from any of the fine acts on the compilation.

By Torchlight - The Flames of the Phoenix, Pt. 1

These days it seems difficult for a singer-songwriter to really deliver something surprising. The “acoustic guitar and soulful singing” trope has been all but trampled by Top 40 radio, not to mention a lack of innovation and—too often—honesty.

But this genre is not nearly dead. I’ve already written a few articles lauding some of the pioneers of this sound, and now can proudly add New Jersey’s By Torchlight to that list, whose EP The Flames of the Phoenix, Pt. 1 breathes new life into the embers of this genre.

As far as arrangements go, The Flames of the Phoenix, Pt. 1 takes a simple formula and creates something expansive and magnificent. By Torchlight relies almost entirely on the acoustic guitar for instrumentation, yet their approaches to both composition and tone combine to make it the most expansive acoustic guitar I’ve ever heard. “The Watcher and the Damned” intermingles crushing chords and sweet melodies, while “The Edge of Forever” layers multiple arpeggiating riffs to create a wavering sonic dreamscape that mirror's the song’s ethereal lyrics. Yet the guitar is not alone on this EP: “The Edge of Forever” stacks a bass onto the arrangement, and by the very end of the record we have a full band marching alongside By Torchlight’s driving chords. 

The Flames of the Phoenix, Pt. 1 is a thematic record, both in lyrics and in composition. The writing layers fantastic imagery on the motif of a journey, bringing the record into the realm of an epic adventure. As the tale grows across the EP, so does the energy; the soft picking of “Child of the Edge” is quickly replaced by furious strumming and rasping yells before the record ends. By Torchlight approaches every aspect of their writing with intelligence and intention, making The Flames of the Phoenix, Pt. 1 a cohesive and riveting listening experience.

By Torchlight takes a small sound and makes it massive, bringing a tale to life with their instrument like a traveling bard. But The Flames of the Phoenix, Pt. 1 does more than just tell that tale—it plays it out for us, using language and instrumentation to sculpt vivid scenes for the audience. It’s an honest and refreshing take on the tag of “singer-songwriter,” and I for one am excited to see where By Torchlight will lead us next.

My Top Track: “Raise the Dead”

Both The Flames of the Phoenix, Pt. 1 and By Torchlight’s latest single “Homecoming” are streaming on Bandcamp and Spotify.

PARCH - Hell in These Eyes

Tired of all the cute fall posts littering your feed? Need something heavy and haunting to get you in the mood for Halloween? Well look no further than the new release by PARCH. New Jersey’s noise boys are back at it with another grinding EP entitled Hell in These Eyes, and it roars louder than a chainsaw in a slasher film.

Recorded in a live setting, Hell in These Eyes manages to stamp the chaotic essence of PARCH onto tape. Between my headphones is a band raging in a room, the cymbals denting as the drumsticks smash into them, the squeal of feedback through distortion pedals and blaring speakers. The vocals are throaty and furious and near impossible to pin down. Yet this is the charm of PARCH—tight performances that sound as unruly as a barfight—a charm Hell in These Eyes captures in all its frenetic glory.

The four songs that make up this EP are aggressively raw in all the right ways. “Foretold” ends so abruptly it sounds like an abandoned take. “Sunnydale” rides growling power chords and a headbanging beat, while “Alligator” dredges the waters with blast beats and mud-drenched bass. The lyrics on this record are so sarcastically nihilistic; “Clear” screams itself into existence with the line “Wake up every day with a gun to my head,” while the tape ends with devolving howls of “This town is a hole” over a collapsing band. The sonics of Hell in These Eyes are pure sludge, vicious wet death coughs of vitriol and reckless abandon.

Though less than ten minutes in length, Hell in These Eyes keeps me riled for hours. The music of PARCH hits like a shot of adrenaline, and leaves me jonesing for another fix as soon as the last song ends. Hell in These Eyes raises hell in the ears, so maybe hell ain’t such a bad place to be.

My Top Track: "Clear"

Hell in These Eyes is out on Wet Cassettes; you can also grab a copy off their Bandcamp page.

Jakals - Bat Brains

Anxiety appears to be the plague of the youth. It haunts the mind, a volatile little voice that trips us and tricks us into a constant loop of second-guessing every decision we make. There is nothing like feeling uncomfortable in your own existence, unsure that you are even worthy of existing—and yet this feeling is near-universal in today’s youth. It’s an experience that so many musicians are attempting to broach, but with their new EP Bat Brains, Boston rockers Jakals have captured that feeling of lonely terror and are showing us how to overcome it.

From the opening rush of “Porcelain” to the final fading notes of “It’s All the Same,” it’s obvious that Jakals is a band intimately familiar with disconnection. Every song sounds like it was written in a confessional—the lyrics are painfully honest, the baring of a soul that has known the depths of sadness and adversity. Lines like “I don’t belong anywhere / I’m always a stranger” and “When I was young I saw that I wasn’t enough” impart an intimacy that is almost unnerving with how much it reveals.

There is without doubt much pain and introspection woven into Bat Brains, yet the instrumentation on the EP buoys that emotion with intense energy. The vocals are powerful, taking fearless runs and delivering the timid lyrics with vicious sustain and vitality. The guitars brand the chord progressions with searing melodies and bright tones, mixing gritty fuzzes against colorful cleans. The bass thumps in the low end like an angry neighbor hitting their ceiling with a broomstick, while the drums slice out powerful grooves and fast fills.

Jakals really lay into their performances throughout this EP, giving Bat Brains a volatile sound that belies their tightly controlled and intelligent arrangements. The band drives their compositions outside of the typical 4/4 beat; the chorus of “Trauma Hoarding” rocks in 11/8, while the verse riff in “It’s All the Same” saunters in 7/4. Similarly, almost every song uses dynamics to formidable effect, designing slow-building swells of energy and effects into the song structure so that each tune bursts with a body-shaking bang. These off-kilter rhythms and tension-building moments add an intellectual kick to the songs, giving my mind much more to chew on than just a good beat and fun melody.

Jakals have captured in their EP an experience that is all-too-common to today’s youth, then stamped it with their own hard-rocking signature sound. This record simultaneously sucks me in and pushes me away, giving rise to a strange medley of emotions that I don’t quite yet have the words to describe. Bat Brains is a collection of kickass tunes that tap into the visceral essence of anxiety and loneliness—six anthems for the anxious to remind us we aren’t alone, nor are we helpless. And if ever you’ve been unsure of your worth in this world, then this record is just what you need to hear right now.

My Top Track: “The Sound of Something Else”

Jakals is currently on tour in support of Bat Brains; you can find upcoming dates and other news via their Facebook page. Then head to Spotify or Bandcamp to stream or purchase your own copy of Bat Brains.

Song Spotlight: Will Grayson's "I was Born with a Caulfield"

Artwork by Andrea Hellwig

“Be bold.”

Perhaps the most important advice ever given to me concerning art. It takes more than a little nerve to create something, even more to make something honest and true. Hard advice, but invaluable.

So much music today is born from swamps of compromise, but CT’s singer-songwriter Will Grayson has never shied away from bold decisions; rather, sprawling compositions, multifaceted arrangements, and sonic exploration are well-honed weapons in his arsenal. And lucky for us, he’s just returned with a new single, “I Was Born with a Caulfield,” one of his most ambitious and powerful takes yet.

Opening with plucky guitar chords, Will Grayson spits some quickfire spoken-word before bursting into lilting vocals as the instrumentation takes off beneath. Multiple guitars converge beneath his singing, mixing twangy clean tones with a vibrant acoustic and a wild fuzz. “I Was Born with a Caulfield” takes sharp turns between elements, the rhythm section slipping in and out to let the vocal shine and the guitars drive. A swell of reverb begins to overtake the tune as it dives into a coda bursting with handclaps, driving bass, and dolorous melodics.

“I Was Born with a Caulfield” is rich with texture and color, and beneath this vibrant landscape of fuzzy guitars and energetic grooves lies a dynamic and lively composition. The vocals lead the tune along a winding path that never circles back; rather, the song continually evolves as it goes, beginning with a soft, jubilant progression and culminating in a full-band explosion. Yet despite the lack of a chorus or verse structure, Will Grayson’s melodies and harmonic chord progressions keep me locked in as I journey with him to the final fading piano notes.

The gentle yet undeniable surge of energy that grows across the length of “I Was Born with a Caulfield” is reflected in the song’s lyrics. The opening poetics are calm, delivered in an almost sarcastic voice, until Will Grayson slips into singing with the line “A silence rallies around the room.” Yet that silence splits immediately, blooming into splashes of guitar work led by the statement “You already know what comes next.” The final suite of the single launches like a bullet with the line “The first to the door is the first to get shot,” pushing the tune’s headbanging groove to completion in a gentle collapse. Grayson’s lyrics lead this odyssey along, his writing as fearless as the composition evolving beneath his words.

“I Was Born with a Caulfield” is a beautiful balance of intelligent writing and unabashedly fun instrumentation. As a precursor to Will Grayson’s upcoming album Yet What Else After All, its fun melodies and expansive arrangements stand as good omens for this new release. Will Grayson is an artist who understands the importance of being bold in his music, a fact that sets him apart from other singer/songwriters. If “I Was Born with a Caulfield” is any indication, Yet What Else After All may be his boldest release yet, and I for one cannot wait for it.

You can find more from Will Grayson, including live shows and updates, by following him on Instagram: @willgraysonmusician. Then head over to his Bandcamp and/or Spotify and stream the new single "I was Born with a Caulfield" off his upcoming full-length, Yet What Else After All, releasing September 21st.

Glenn VeryClose - Episode 0

If you’ve had even half a conversation with me about Connecticut’s music scene, then undoubtedly you’ve heard me mention indie-rock power trio The 30th of February. They’re prolific songwriters and incredible performers, and I reviewed their latest EP Silence a few months ago, which recently saw a CD release featuring an exclusive bonus track. And as if that wasn’t enough to get me salivating, their frontman Ant just released an EP entitled Episode 0, a collection of stripped-down, dolorous tunes published under the moniker Glenn VeryClose, and I find myself completely lost in this record’s winding chords and lilting melodies.

Sonically, Episode 0 is relatively sparse, with each song stripped almost to the bones. Acoustic guitar and a plucky ukulele provide the foundation over which Ant’s haunting vocals float like fog on early morning streets. Yet he accomplishes so much with this little arsenal: “Walking Past a Burning Building” alternates between gentle melody and roaring, chorus-drenched chords, while “PDF” layers both string instruments to create cascading waves of sound. Glenn VeryClose uses simplicity to maximum effect on this EP, letting the energy and emotion of his chord progressions steep into strong elixirs of song.

The melancholy strings set the tonal foundation of Episode 0, and it’s upon this that Glenn VeryClose builds the tales and trials of each tune. The vocals on this EP are insanely mournful, each word carrying the weight of a thousand disappointments. Lines like “Hate yourself for me” from “Hate” or “Lost / in a space I created all myself” in “Vulnerable” shape atmospheres of intense emotion that are blatant, unencumbered by veil or metaphor. Each line is terribly powerful, and yet in these same songs, the speaker lacks agency to act upon that power, instead asking for permission with the questions “Can I hate you?” and “Am I allowed to stay?”

It is this lyrical approach, one of complete abandon, that makes this EP resonate so strongly with me. Glenn VeryClose embeds the very essence of depression, a simultaneous hopelessness against change and stasis, in every single line. It’s a viciously honest portrayal of how it feels to be alone, even if it’s just in your head. And yet Glenn VeryClose does not simply wallow in this darkness—by writing these songs, committing them to hand and heart and record, he thus begins a journey towards acceptance, and hopefully, healing.

No matter how many times I spin this EP, Episode 0 still hits me in the heart like the loss of a loved one. This record offers an intimate, stripped-down look into the world of an insanely prolific songwriter, and each of the four tracks spells out in heartbreaking detail how tough that world can be. With Episode 0, Glenn VeryClose bares all that there is to bare, trusting us as the listener to understand, to believe, to accept. It’s a vivid listening experience, and as you choose to venture into this odyssey, know you will not return the same as you arrived.

My Top Track(s): “Vulnerable” and “PDF” (I can’t choose!)

You can find more from Glenn VeryClose, including upcoming shows and news, on Facebook. Then head over to his Bandcamp page and grab your own copy of Episode 0.

Unpleasant Peasants - Pre-Apocalyptic EP

For too long of a time, in my mind, “heavy” music meant low-tuned guitars, crashing breakdowns, and walls of distortion. Drop-A chugs, blast beats, and vicious screams felt not just like hallmarks of heavy music, but requirements. Never on earth would a 22-year-old me have called a mandolin “aggressive” or thought an acoustic guitar could thump notes that hit me like they were pouring out of a Marshall stack. Yet in exploring folk-punk in recent years, I’ve learned a thing or two about how powerful this sound can be, and after listening to Unpleasant Peasant’s Pre-Apocalyptic EP, I am reminded at just how much weight can come from performance and songwriting.

The instrumentation of Pre-Apocalyptic EP is relatively sparse, built only on mandolin, bass, and a washboard. Yet Unpleasant Peasants use their musical weapons to amazing effect, creating a vibrant and vicious sound at speeds I would balk to attempt. The band rakes at their instruments as if trying to scrub blood from their surfaces, rocking progressions that are fast, bombastic, and insanely danceable. Above it all, their collective gang vocals ring powerful and true, a chaotic chorus of disgruntled voices working together as one and building into unstoppable frenzies of energy.

Unpleasant Peasants are just as virulent and hard-hitting with their lyrics. Much of the writing on their Pre-Apocalyptic EP delivers scathing yet eloquent critiques of today’s society. “It’s Just Business” tackles the repetitive, oft-fruitless struggles of trying to survive in the consumer culture that dominates every aspect of life. “Civilization” sharpens this criticism to a point that Unpleasant Peasants use to prod the sleeping awake: “The world is not in your TV / The world is not in your phone / The world’s not inside your head / It’s outside of your home.” Yet perhaps the best and most searing commentary comes from the opening track “The Farmer,” whose protagonist is hell-bent on destroying anything and everything—be it plant, animal, or human—that stands in the way of his profits. Unpleasant Peasants pair intelligent writing with aggressive performances so that each word hits the listener like a K.O. punch.

Unpleasant Peasants are another testament to the true power of folk-punk, proving with their music that substance in songwriting and power in performance can make for some of the heaviest music around. Every song on this EP is rife with powerful screams and heady riffs; that breakdown and coda of “Pre-Apocalyptic” get me just as riled and ready to move as any hardcore band could. This band’s Pre-Apocalyptic EP certainly carries the weight of the world’s end, yet if this record is any indicator, the future will be looking quite bright for these Peasants.

My Top Track: It’s Just Business

You can find more from Unpleasant Peasants, including news and upcoming shows, on Facebook. Then head over to their Bandcamp page to grab your own copy of their Pre-Apocalyptic EP.

Down with Rent - Entitled Millennial Scum

For the disaffected and marginalized sections of our community, the meeting place is not the town hall, but the dive bars and DIY spaces where hardcore and punk shows are happening so regularly. Punk music gives us a collective outlet for our frustrations, as well as a forum for confronting and changing the asinine aspects of our society. In CT, no band is making better use of this platform than Down With Rent, and with their new full-length Entitled Millennial Scum, they’re breaking out the artillery.

Down With Rent is renowned in the local scene for their explosive live shows, and Entitled Millennial Scum perfectly presses that energy and experience to record. The performances are volatile, almost too powerful for the speakers playing them. The drums thunder out beats so fast, I’m out of breath just listening. The guitar rages along aggressive chord progressions, resonant palm mutes, and searing feedback. The bass guitar’s tone alone feels like a kick in the stomach, riding atop thumping lines and growling low notes that boom within my chest cavity. The vocals thrash with throaty screams and fierce shouts, each absolutely vicious word hitting as hard as the guitar or drums.

The sound of Entitled Millennial Scum is pure and unadultered vitriol, but the lyrics are what give it a focused target. Down With Rent is fearless in calling out the hypocrisies that abound in our society. Lines like “Make no mistake / they won’t hesitate / to take everything / and leave you on the pavement to die” call out the indiscriminate greed and selfishness of the powers that be, a heady reminder that anyone playing the game will happily step on you to win it. In a similar vein, “Entitled to Everything” both pokes fun at generational disconnect with the line “Don’t ask me if you owe us a living / We want this planet and everything in it” before pointing out that action is what earns respect, not age. Entitled Millennial Scum is relentless in both energy and substance, a record seething with honest, no-holds-barred critique of the many cracks in the façade of our country.

One of my favorite aspects of Entitled Millennial Scum is how cohesively it flows. Each song rolls right into the next with nary a second wasted, swells of feedback tying the tunes together and driving the momentum of the record forward. Samples of news reports and police confrontations stitched into a couple tracks help reinforce the political tone of the album throughout. Entitled Millennial Scum is truly a record without a single boring moment—front-to-back, it plays with an integrity and energy that keeps my head and heart locked in.

No matter where you stand, Down With Rent’s new record packs serious punch. Every single song is loaded with kickass riffs, heady screams, and the unbridled energy that is this band’s trademark. Entitled Millennial Scum is a feverish punk powerhouse, the sound of a riot breaking out in the streets punctuated by brutal breakdowns and breakneck drumbeats, giving a furious voice to the fears and unrest so many of us live under every day. So put this record on repeat, and crank it up and up until it makes you deaf—you’re entitled to it.

My Top Track: “Can’t Swim”

You can find more from Down With Rent, including upcoming shows and news, on their Facebook page and on Instagram. Then head over to their Bandcamp and grab your own copy of Entitled Millennial Scum.

Reconstitute - S/T

Since its inception, punk rock has had a political backbone. It has been a virulent voice against injustice, calling out the hatred and bigotry that the rest of our society tries to keep out of sight. In today’s world of regular school shootings, blatant institutional racism, and public displays of intolerance and hatred, this voice is as important as ever, and I’m glad to say, as loud as ever. Just take the self-titled EP by Reconstitute, a collection of heavy-hitting tunes from a band that refuse to stand silently by and watch the world burn.

The instrumentation on Reconstitute is riotous and utterly unforgiving in its energy. The overdriven guitars roar, low chords rumbling next to screeching highs. The drummer pounds his kit into oblivion, each cymbal crash hitting like a brick crashing through a pristine window. The bass guitar is an earthquake, blasting fuzzy lows and searing melodic lines into the ears. Above the chaos are the vicious shouted vocals, each scream a rallying cry that concentrates every element into a sonic punch of punk.

The thrashing strings and thumping drums on Reconstitute could almost generate their own electricity with how much vigor lies behind them, yet it is the lyrics that shape this energy into a tool of change. Reconstitute wields their words against those unjust and insane systems erected to oppress, spearheaded by the madman sitting in the Oval Office. Both “Dear America” and “Treaty” aim themselves directly at Trump’s inherent hypocrisy with lines like “This man doesn’t have your interests in mind / Just his bottom line,” while “Repeal and Replace” virulently addresses the destructive policies he is spearheading such as the infinitely-rising prices of healthcare. Reconstitute pulls no punches with their self-titled debut, instead sharpening their lyrics in poignant razors to hack at the injustices facing the American people.

Though it barely breaks six minutes, Reconstitute is an absolutely relentless, fearless release. From the opening feedback of “Dear America” to the hammering coda hits of “Digging for Coal,” each second of this record is rife with punk passion and hardcore intensity. Reconstitute takes the corruption of our country to task with their self-titled release, a blatant statement that bigotry and injustice will never be tolerated no matter where or when they rear their ugly mugs.

My Top Track: "Dear America"

Reconstitute is a project of the prolific and talented N.E. Hertzberg; follow him on Facebook for updates including news and upcoming shows. Then head over to Spotify to listen to Reconstitute or even grab a limited-run tape (courtesy of Crass Lips Records) from their Bandcamp page.

Dead Characters - Ashen

In a world dominated by vocal-centric music, it must be difficult to be an instrumental artist. Vocals create an easy and immediate touchstone for audiences, a doorway of human presence that they can step through. It is infinitely harder to connect with the general population via instrumentation, to touch their minds and hearts in the same way and with the same depth. A daunting task, but not an impossible one, as Colorado’s Dead Characters prove with their debut EP Ashen.

The sound of Ashen is much like the album cover: dark, crashing, and in constant motion. The drums pile hit upon hit upon hit, practically beating the toms to a pulp with powerful fills and warlike grooves. The bass guitar drones like an oncoming thunderstorm, thumping against the bass drum beats with a tone so growling and gritty it shakes my speakers. Above it all rides the guitar, deftly switching between tremolo-picked solos and chugging chords. The band lets the riffs and running basslines lead their sound—all the emotion is embedded in the instruments, and the melodies portray the meanings without the encumbrance of vocals or lyrics.

While their performances are superb, the real strength of Dead Characters’ music lies in their composition. The band employs vicious up-and-down dynamics in their songs, digging quiet and spacious valleys between mountains of distortion and ringing cymbals. Tracks like “With and Without” and “Landing” slip between big booming riffs and gentle melodic moments, letting the song steer from beauty to brutality. Similarly, vastly different guitar tones are employed against each other to create tension, placing washes of echo and reverb against grinding fuzz in “Palo Duro,” or even simultaneously imposing a twangy clean onto massive distortion in “There Were Flashes.” Each of the five songs on Ashen uses dynamics in volume and in tone to create vivid worlds for us to explore. 

It’s no small feat to connect with listeners through music; to do so without the tried-and-true tool of singing is an even larger feat, yet Dead Characters seem to be masters at it. Each of the songs on Ashen tells its own story in the language of thrashing strings and crashing drums, throwing the encumbrance of vocals to the side and letting their riffs do the talking. And believe me, those riffs have something to say, so you better listen up.

My Top Track: “Harriet”

You can find more from Dead Characters, including upcoming shows and news, on Facebook. Then head over to their Bandcamp page and pick up your own copy of Ashen.

Intercourse - Everything is Pornography When You've Got an Imagination

Connecticut is a state oozing with heavy bands, yet few can truly bring the noise like Intercourse. Their approach to music is fearless and furious; seeing them live is like standing in the way of a careening freight train. They make music for the outsiders, broken loners and writhing weirdos, drawing on the darkness of the corners ignored by the masses. Intercourse embraces this darkness, and with their latest release Everything is Pornography When You’ve Got an Imagination, they lob it back at the general population like a hand grenade. 

Compositionally, Everything is Pornography is like a Jackson Pollock painting, simultaneously a technical masterpiece and a beautiful mess. The guitars thrash through quick, abrasive chord progressions and heady palm mutes, punctuated by vicious feedback and screaming dissonant notes. The bass rages through distortion and bizarre effects. Hectic blast beats and shattering cymbals drive the band into brutal breakdowns that punch like fists at the ear drums. Above this maelstrom ride the vocals of a rambling madman, screamed at fever pitch and full volume. 

The beauty of Intercourse’s music is that is simultaneously intentional and improvised—four talented and passionate musicians who have no qualms about fucking shit up. Everything is Pornography is loaded with tempo and time signature changes: “Piles” repeatedly cycles through 4/4/, 6/4, and 7/4 so rapidly that it’s almost impossible to predict, while “Beyond Human” presses thrashing fast sections against a vehement, soulless breakdown that slows with each repetition. But against these clear and deliberate technical decisions, Intercourse smashes waves of feedback and noise throughout, creating an audio hellscape of distortion and dissonance.

These players might be pros at their instruments, but noise is their specialty; chaos is in their blood, and this is nowhere more apparent than in the vocals. Each vocal piece feels almost separate from the instrumentation, like a drunken stranger stumbled into the recording studio and began screaming about being abducted by aliens. Head-spinning yells and vitriolic rants roil like a hurricane above the stormy seas of the instruments, forcing a framework of human suffering and absurdity over the layers of feedback. If the earsplitting guitars are there to disorient you, it’s the roaring vocals that kick you in the gut and steal your wallet. 

This intrinsic uproar is just as apparent in the lyrics, which spin tales of absolute pandemonium. “Cuckold the Family Ghost” describes a botched suicide resulting in a hellish haunting, while “Cum Kind of Monster” blurs the line between macho hero worship and masturbatory addiction. The undertone to almost every song is one of bizarre and irreverent humor, yet it is not all-consuming: lines like “Look me in the eyes, vote against my life. They want to build a wall? There's already a fucking wall” from “The Kids are Alt-Right” wield this bombastic anger against relevant social issues such as racism and toxic masculinity. 

Intercourse’s noisy brand of hardcore on Everything is Pornography When You’ve Got an Imagination hits like a stampede of blackout-drunk elephants. If they throw parties in hell, this is the record they put on the jukebox. Its noisy riffs, thundering beats, and spine-chilling shouts create a raucous mix that is both frightening and frighteningly good. Intercourse redefines the word “heavy” with Everything is Pornography, and I can’t wait to see where they take it next. 

My Top Track: “Beyond Human” 

You can find more from Intercourse, including news and show updates, on Facebook. Then head over to their Bandcamp page and grab your own copy of Everything is Pornography When You’ve Got an Imagination.

Bridgeroom / Will Grayson - Split #2 EP

One of the best aspects of my local music scene is how supportive and collaborative it can be. I regularly see artists working together to stay afloat in this oft-unforgiving pursuit of making music. Whether by cross-promoting shows or guest-spotting on recordings, CT’s musicians constantly reaffirm that none of us are in this alone, even in the most trying of times. One shining example of this community spirit is the latest split between Bridgeroom and Will Grayson, two acts bolstering each other’s songs and sadness on one release.

Bridgeroom’s songwriting on this split captures the feeling of disconnection that depression and anxiety can create, how when even in a crowded room and surrounded by friends, we can feel so alone.  “Break You Down” juxtaposes quick fuzzy guitar melodies and a fun full band arrangement against some of the loneliest vocals I’ve ever heard, while “You Won’t” rings like a howl in the middle of the night. Still, all is not lost—the uplifting melodies of “A Taunt Well Done,” while not quite resolving the sadness, at least let us come to terms with the feeling, creating a catharsis for the first side of the record.

Will Grayson’s tunes similarly places vibrant instrumentation against morose musing. “Every Week Has Its Day” plays with danceable drum rhythms and a bright synth, while “Failed States” features a wandering vocal melody over three guitars that flit between the speakers. The final track “Once A Week Won’t Kill You” blooms like a flower, spacing out powerful vocals with an ever-expanding instrumental bridge.

Like his instrumentation, Bridgeroom’s vocals are pained by old memories, somehow simultaneously longing for the past while wishing it had never come to pass. Every word is laden with enough weight and emotion to almost leave bruises. Lines like “It’s all already been said / But I’ll continue going / over it again” in “You Won’t” or “I dug up these old letters / from a box on my shelf / I’ll never throw them out / ‘cause I tell myself they help” suggest a pain almost too comforting in its familiarity. There is no veil between the emotion and intention in Bridgeroom’s lyrics—every line is a fresh wound displayed for all to see.

Where Bridgeroom relies on frank reality in imagery, Will Grayson shapes vivid metaphors to communicate emotion. “Every Week Has Its Day” plays with sequences of time in both its title and in the lines “We’re warring all spring / summer falls dead in the heat / we take off winter to sleep / and then the seasons repeat.” Similarly, “Failed States” applies a political framework to a romantic relationship, where communication suddenly becomes a negotiation. Will Grayson employs frameworks of imagery to enclose the emotion of the song, giving each piece a context outside of itself from which it can draw meaning.

Both Bridgeroom and Will Grayson bring their best to their sides of this split, but even more interesting is how their sides work together to create a comprehensive listening experience. Both artists sequence their songs in a mirrored manner; Track 1 flaunts upbeat tempos and powerful instrumentation, while Track 2 drops down into a gentle sway of sadness. Both artists focus their final pieces on dynamics—“A Taunt Well Done” wavers between quiet strumming and full-band swells, while “Once A Week Won’t Kill You” slowly builds an epic odyssey of instruments across its 7-minute existence. This similar structuring helps to create a cohesive adventure of the split, providing two unique perspectives on the same progression of sound.

The songs collected by both Bridgeroom and Will Grayson on this EP fit together like puzzle pieces. Each artist brings a distinct sound and style to the table, yet their collaborative approaches reflect the growing communal spirit of CT’s music scene. Splits like this are just one of the many ways musicians can come together and support each other in their artistic endeavors, and remind me just how high we can reach we can be when we give one another a boost.

My Top Tracks: “A Taunt Well Done” and “Failed States”

You can find more from these artists, including live shows and updates, by following Bridgeroom on Facebook and Will Grayson on Instagram. Then head over to these acts’ Bandcamp pages and pick up your own copy of their second split (as well as the first one!).

Bridgeroom Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Bridgeroom-1966562993619055/

Bridgeroom Bandcamp: https://bridgeroom.bandcamp.com/

Will Grayson Bandcamp: https://willgrayson.bandcamp.com/

Will Grayson Instagram: @willgraysonmusician

Shameless Self Promotion: New full-length "Drops of Dew & Mourning" releases tomorrow!

Well friends, after 2+ years of sequester, self-doubt, and a vicious cycle of creation-destruction-reassembly, I am proud to say that tomorrow, March 30, I will be releasing my first-ever full-length album, Drops of Dew & Mourning. And if I'm being honest, I'm both terrified and excited. 

The road of creating this record, of getting it out of me and into the world, was both long and arduous. The road of believing that the music I've been making is worth hearing has been far longer, and I'm not yet at the end of that path--I'm not sure I ever will be. 

But between all the cracks I can see in this album, I believe that other wills find both beauty and honesty. It's not perfect, but it is mine. And now I am giving it to the world, to you, in hopes that you find some aspect that speaks to you the way that writing this record did for me.

So come have some of this music with me. I will be performing some of these songs for the first time tomorrow night at Watertown's premier dessert bar, CBBG, along with an esteemed list of incredibly talented artists. There will even be physical CDs you can take home for a couple bucks, as well as piles of free hugs. 

Thanks again for being part of this journey with me. I hope to see you tomorrow night!

Love,

Woody

Release show FB event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1607343876017821/ 

Drops of Dew & Mourning on Bandcamp, out 3/30/18: https://thejudasobscure.bandcamp.com/album/drops-of-dew-mourning