Albums of the Week?
I guess let's try this?
My mind is swimming with mostly unhelpful thoughts after last night. I already knew that I was going to pick this project back up after the election, but at this point it feels like an act of self preservation. It’s been a very left brain year for me, the moments between weird work projects I’ve cobbled together and shuttling kids around have been spent reading books on the death of the neoliberal order and industrial policy. I’m still plugging away at the pedal steel, but otherwise it’s been a particularly non-creative spell. Well now that twitter discourse is guaranteed to be magnitudes or order more insufferable, and industrial policy will be… ahem, put on hold for a few years, it’s time to get back to some creative projects.
With all of that being said, I’d like to announce a new “Albums of the Week” post that I hope to write…… weekly! The idea here is that we’re all gonna need some motivation, and sometimes the best thing for your lizard brain is some good tunes. I’ll do a brief write up of two albums that I love every week, covering lots of different genres, old and new. I won’t try to blow you away with some super obscure shit, I only have one requirement; they will be good albums.
So the first album is a new one that I’ve been listening to on repeat the last few weeks, and I think is apropos as an anger release valve given the results of last night.
BLOOD INCANTATION - ABSOLUTE ELSEWHERE
I was a metalhead during it’s golden era in the late 80’s through the mid 90’s, this was a particularly fecund era of death metal. It takes a lot for me to get excited in any way about a new death metal album, but these guys have done it. It sounds like it was recorded in 1992, with nostalgic nods to bands like Morbid Angel and Dissection, but interwoven seamlessly with proggy bits that wouldn’t be out of place in a Pink Floyd album. They don’t try to melt your mind with hyper technical playing, it’s riff built with real song structure. I couldn’t tell you the first thing about the lyrics, something that has never interested me about death metal, but I dig the less-satan, more sci-fi approach. Give it a listen even if death metal isn’t in your wheelhouse, as there’s enough ambient and proggy sections to keep a non-metal mind interested.
The next album for this week is…..
VARIOUS ARTISTS - CHULAS FRONTERAS
I loved this album for years before I even realized it’s partially the soundtrack to a Les Blank documentary of the same name. I’m generally just a sucker for Norteno music in general, though by no means an expert. After watching the documentary recently (all praise the Criterion Collection), it shed some light on what most of these songs were about, as a non spanish speaker. Essentially they tell the stories of migrant farm workers on the Tex-Mex border. The melodies and harmonies are full of joy and heartbreak, it’s a fantastic blend of country, polka, blues, really fascinating and heartfelt music. Check it out, and the documentary too if you can find it, well worth the effort.
Feel free to let me know what you think!