Weekly track round up (1st Dec).

Welcome to another weekly round up, featuring me giving my thoughts on some of my favourite and least favourite tracks from the week beginning the 25th. This week has been very dry. Especially from my personal radar, there have been very few new releases that have grabbed my attention enough for me to give my thoughts on. That being said, here are the few tracks I did want to speak about.

Loathe – Aggressive Evolution.

Loathe are a fairly new metal quintet from Liverpool. Blending elements of Nu-Metal, Metal-core and even more experimental genres like Post-rock, Loathe have positioned themselves at the forefront of the new northern UK metal scene that I so love, along with bands like Lotus Eater and God Complex. I see Loathe as more of an experimental and melodic counterpart to Lotus Eater’s more gloomy and destructive aesthetic, and this allows the band to really develop and grow sonically, whereas a band like Lotus Eater is limited to their sonic landscape. Their recent singles have both been quality, yet haven’t nearly stuck with me as much as anything from their 2017 album ‘The Cold Sun’. This new track from Loathe is titled ‘Aggressive Evolution’, and I feel like, despite it being a great track, part of their signature sound is lost in it. The track boasts heavy as hell verses and beautifully ambient choruses, but I just cant help but hear the band’s inspirations too loudly on this track. The chorus sounds like a Deftones song. That shouldn’t be a negative thing; Deftones are one of my all-time favourite bands, but I miss the signature Loathe ambience on choruses. As a band, they have always felt slightly Deftones inspired; it is well documented Erik and Kadeem from the band love Deftones, but it is usually subtle enough to not feel too indulgent. I am sure this is just a personal point, and regardless of me thinking this it is a beautiful chorus, perfectly contrasting the brutality of what is a classic Loathe verse. All of that being said, the outro on this track is something else entirely, Especially after the 3:02 mark. It is, to put it simply, absolutely filthy. It balances a brutally muted guitar riff, a simplistic and explosive drum beat, and just a small bit of electronic noise that Loathe love implementing to up the griminess even further. Listen to ‘Aggressive Evolution’ here on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/0760zYIfOlkX2pvEAleisZ?si=mZ30MWzKQ8SidY5VjQAUpg

Deadmau5 – FALL.

By now, most people know who Canadian born producer and DJ Deadmau5 is. Yes, he is the guy who wears the big silly-looking mouse helmet. But his costumed gimmick does not take away from his validity as a titan of electronic music production. After a rocky few years with controversies and lack-luster music being released, Deadmau5, in my eyes at least, returns to form with this new track. This song is awesome. It has such an eerie vibe to it, thanks in part to a consistent warping sound throughout the song that isn’t the same time signature as the beat. It creates a mind altering listening experience, making you feel as if you are in a futuristic dance club from the movie ‘Blade’. During a drum break around the 3:15 mark, the sound, I really can’t describe what it sounds like so I will stick with warp, seems to spiral and close in on you, filling your head with this awesomely deadly sound. When the track comes back in around the 3:45 mark, you can do nothing but bob your head as the hard hitting drum beats hits you. Please listen on a good sound system, or very loud headphones. This track deserves your sonic respect. Listen to the track here on spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/1KVrHVbZrD2aE8PS8lmOB7?si=_4Q_OgFSR9aODWeXv2kmYw

Yung Gravy, bbno$ – iunno.

Ah yes, Yung Gravy and bbno$ (baby no money) come together to release a single from their yet-to-be released ‘Baby Gravy EP 2’. Being two of the shining examples when it comes to internet rapper/producers who blend comedy and trap music, previous pairings of Gravy and baby have been nothing but fun. So with this track’s arrival I am slightly let down. It features the classic ‘is it ironic, is it serious’ lyrical themes, repetitive trap beat and soundbite ad-libs that seem to feature on every single track these two produce together. All the ingredients are here, and yet something is just not clicking for me. I don’t find the instrumental massively inspired, which is what usually lifts the tracks out of being just another internet trap song (The best example of that is the track ‘Early Afternoon Stroll’ from Gravy’s 2018 album ‘Snow Cougar’. The instrumental sounds like something from the Pixar movie ‘Up’), and the chemistry of Baby and Gravy bouncing comedic lyrics from one another seems to not be as present as other collaborations. I can’t be too upset by this song though. It is still fun, and that is what these two always try to express with their linked projects. I prefer their recent collaboration on the song ‘shining on my ex’ a lot more; the level of comedy and quality of instrumental are both better, but oh well. They both make so much music there will undoubtedly be more soon. Listen to ‘iunno’ on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/album/7LjgrgyzI7qkkYpEcWSHk6?si=XFyp4-jSTrO1MNnuuMBJKA

Vistas – Teenage Blues.

This song is really mediocre. I don’t like being so disrespectful to artists (excluding Coldplay), especially newer, lesser known artists, but this song is so mediocre and repetitive, by the end of the track, I feel like I need to get the bad taste out of my ears with some brutally destructive death metal (it seems to be the best musical mouthwash). The repetitive backing vocals of the word ‘you’ are almost unbearable by the end of song. I understand the kind of direction Vistas are trying to go in with this track, with its hard hitting pop-rock positivity, but to me it is akin to a worse produced version of Stereophonics’ ‘Dakota’ (go listen to that song instead, it is much better). I wouldn’t be surprised to hear this song on an advert for teenage acne cream. It has that level of cringey positivity that for some reason my mind places it in that scenario. To end on a lighter note, at least the song is harmless. Whilst the lyrics are uninspired and cliché, there is nothing offensive here. Regardless, best skip this track: https://open.spotify.com/album/3nZrt2qTRUQ7Bp59zagW13?si=y1QB5qp6Se2WpogzDJqbpQ

Static Dress – Adaptive taste.

Leeds based Post-hardcore band Static Dress have released their second ever song this week with ‘Adaptive Taste’. Starting as the brain-child of photographer Olli Appleyard, Static Dress have appeared in recent months with a very striking aesthetic and musical style, doing more than just relying on capturing the nostalgia of early 2000s emo. This new song heavily reinforces that. It presents some of the wonderfully dissonant yet hauntingly beautiful guitar riffs that I so love, each of the four member’s performance is tight as anything, and the song is so well produced, especially for such a new and ‘underground’ band. Whilst loving their previous single ‘clean.’, I feel this is a step up in regards to Olli’s vocals. His screams hold a solid amount of strength and distortion , and his melodic singing is clearer than before, his mumbling being a negative of the previous song. I especially love his vocals during the chorus, around the 1:06 mark. There is just the right amount of clarity that I felt has been lacking previously. I am not going to talk any further about this band, as I want to dissect this track and the band further on Wednesday. This song is not on Spotify yet, so please listen to it through the youtube link above.

And that is about it for this week’s track round up. As I said, this has been such a quiet week for new releases on my radar, but I have definitely missed and not covered many tracks. Also, as a side-note. please keep in mind this all just personal opinion. What I think has no less validity than anyone else. Anyway, thanks for reading, and I hope to see you again on Wednesday for a review!