And now, for something completely different for over the weekend, here’s some cool music I’ve run across over the last few months.
Castle Rat is… well, they’re good heavy metal that reminds me of the most camp (and awesome) bits of the height of Black Sabbath’s career. “Fresh Fur” is one of my favorite tracks off their current album, Into The Realm, and really showcases this band’s sound. They recently completed a Kickstarter to develop a second, and I’m quite excited.
I became aware of Electric Callboy a bit earlier when they did RATATATA with BABYMETAL I liked, but “Elevator Operator” is if you slammed Little Big’s “Skibidi” into a metalcore band and hit blend, and I’m here for it.
Little Cecil formed out of a friendship on Imgur, of all places. Their debut EP, Jagged Transmissions (Spotify, Apple Music), is a bit uneven, but when they hit — like with the narrative and haunting lyrics over a strong synthwave beat of “Blood and Gold,” it hits.
While YouTube’s recommendations have notoriously been shown to be awful, Nova Twins was a rare gem to pop out of that sidebar. From the blast of the opening to the thumping beat of the choruses, “Monsters” really grabs a hold and doesn’t let go.
The Warning — three sisters from Mexico — began on the public stage from a YouTube video when they were teens. Now, they’re adults and playing solid rock. Most of their songs are in English, but “Qué Más Quieres” is one of my favorites. Note: there does not seem to be a way to legally purchase digital versions of their music (at least that I saw). I ordered the CD from their website, I enjoy this band that much.
ALT BLK ERA just released their album Rave Immortal last month, and while “Come On Outside” is perhaps my favorite track for a lot of reasons, “Run Rabbit” is just catchy and full of energy as anything.
Bloodywood has come so far, from doing metal covers of pop songs to making “Tadka,” which I have determined by scientific process to be The Most Metal Song About Food EVER. It’ll be on their next album, Nu Delhi, which comes out in March, and you can pre-order now. And now I want a curry.
I know absolutely nothing about Lucy Dacus other than this song and video, but it was sent to me, I saw it, and I loved both the song and the video. Musically, “Best Guess” sounds like the best of a particular type of 90’s alternative that would be on the soundtrack of Buffy or The Crow. Visually, this video is just gorgeous in its simple, elegant cinematography. It’s a bunch of people being happy together, and that makes me happy. There’s an album coming out in March — Forever is a Feeling — which I’m now quite interested in.
And that brings us to our last entry, Dax Riggs. Dax Riggs is … blues and rock and swamp and smoked cigarettes and cheap black coffee and rich whiskey and humid nights where your soul is bared to the world, whether you like it or not. And like all of those things, Riggs’ music demands your attention and a palate that can appreciate something more complex and textured. 7 Songs For Spiders is his most recent album after a seven year hiatus, and if you like “deceiver,” just go ahead and start enjoying his discography.
I hope that at least one of these artists has caught your attention and given you something new to explore this weekend!
Featured Image by Rahul Yadav from Pixabay