Post rock but black metal. (I can see the confusion of how to label this when there’s every possible version of putting these words together present in this albums tag list on Bandcamp.)
Olhava – Sacrifice
Soft Kill – Metta World Peace
This sounds like how post-punk can be interpreted as bedroom shoegaze alternative hiphop in 2023. Which is just fascinating. To me this is coldwave mostly.
Wolvennest – Ritual Mmxx
It’s like post-rock with grunge aesthetics. Atmospheric but also dirty and noisy. So interesting that they identify as psychedelic black metal. I can see that, too.
Moin – Moot!
It’s some alternative post-rock, sometimes I feel it’s shoegazer style but then often it’s much more upbeat and lively than that. The percussion grooves are killers. It’s rare that I hear a drummer and start looking up other projects by them just based on the beats played—this is one of those cases. But all other aspects are amazing too, like bits and pieces of melodies, and some well-placed spoken word segments or samples. It’s a record that I have a hard time putting into words: I feel like I don’t have the right dictionary to describe what I hear, but I love it so much. It’s really surprising and absolutely amazing.
Public Service Broadcasting – The Race For Space
From the postive side of post-rock, mixing in psychedelic rock vibe, and layering it with radio recordings from the era of the space race. Quite a unique concept album. What I like most is the overall upbeat and dreamy atmosphere of it all. It feels pleasantly naive.
Jambinai – A Hermitage
After listening to ONDA today I went straight on and listened to all releases by Jambinai, and it’s quite a trip. Their latest album is a sophisticated soul toching record and in contrast this first one is an experimental metal road roller beast. I see the journey they took from being this raw revolutionary composition through exploring their own realm that they created and arriving to the final destination where they can control their space with such a fine touch. But I love all stages of this journey. I kept starting to write a sentence about which version of their music I prefer but kept deleting, decided not to say. This may be my top new find this year so far: it is so new, so refreshing, so not like something else, so surprising. I still have some processing and re-listening to do.
Actually this specific record brings up feelings that I had for Karyn Crisis’ Salem’s Wounds in 2015.
Jambinai – ONDA
Korean post-rock played with traditional instruments and musical elements. This ablum is breathtaking. The “totally didn’t see this coming” winner of the month. The kind of experience that is hard to imagine without listening to it and feeling the goosebumps all over me.
Disco Inferno – In Debt
Low-fi ethereal post-punk post-rock thing. But mainly wins with the low-fi charm. Although I love this Wire review – how thorough. (Original from 1992, re-issued in 2017.)
Sólstafir – Silfur-Refur
There’s this Record Store Day vinyl special of the latest Sólstafir album with an unreleased B-side and it totally makes the whole record worth the mention. They say “Scorpion Moonrise was written in only one day, on which we also recorded the demo […] guest appearance by Hexvessel vocalist Mat “Kvohst” McNerney.” Stones, hammers, rocks.
Ex Eye – Ex Eye
Cathartic post-rock flow of chaos.