BY TOM MURPHY CHEAP PERFUME – DON’T CARE. DIDN’T ASK. The title alone is a concise statement against patriarchal culture and harassment alone. But this album is also bursting with working class, anti-fascist, anti-racist and anti-capitalist fervor. Cheap Perfume takes on the ignorant, hateful language flung your way with uninspired and lazy regularity and turns it into a way of dismantling the power dynamic. All with sharp humor and exciting songs that hit like anthems for a new social revolution after years of too much right-wing, misogynist, white Christian nationalist activity in the national culture. A thoroughly relevant record for these dark times. CHERISHED – S/T An album-length exploration of evolving relationships with others and within oneself. Themes of complex feelings, reaching for extremes of experience and burnout, rediscovery, redemption, and revival and renewal of connection and purpose. In between the melancholic melodies and grit of the music’s core sound, one hears the acceptance of a cycle of struggles and the achievement of hard-won affection and solace. All in mutual understanding of the turns everyone has to go through to attain any authentic knowledge and peace of mind worth having. A genuine fusion of post-punk edge and shoegaze transcendence. THE LOLLYGAGS – OLD NEW BORROWED II “Into Thin Air” sounds like a theme song for this new chapter of The Lollygags who are back after a more than five-year hiatus. Sounding like a cross between a rousing power pop song and a raging blues rock track, the words seem to reflect a sudden reawakening to purpose. Like the sentiments of someone who gave up something they thought they should in favor of sensibility, only to recognize that was foolish and return to their passion with a new sense of perspective. “A Cautionary Tale” acknowledges the folly of pursuing rock and roll, because chances are, it won’t make you famous or rich. But the fun of it is worth doing again as something more worthwhile than a lot of what’s considered respectable. LUKE LEAVITT – CONCERT IN THE SHELL Overtly ambient jazz, there is a great sense of space throughout this captivating release. With smoothly incorporated piano, synth, electronic/organic percussion and horns, the songs seem to tap into an era of jazz and avant-garde composition that fuses African rhythmic modes, dub and funk. There is even a version of Ornette Coleman’s “What is the Name of that Song?” from the jazz great’s 1982 album Of Human Feelings. The tactile is both tonal and atmospheric in building mood and concept in each track. Think Penguin Cafe Orchestra from the 1980s and thus Eno’s of the same era. But as a matter of resonance with the masterfully eclectic fusion of sounds rather than influence. MOON PUSSY – AT THE PACE OF OUTRAGE Maybe this band has always been so pointed in its lyrics. Not just in its jagged and thorny sounds, savagely angular rhythms and kinetic intensity. But something about this album feels like the songs are reflecting both the rot of trusted institutions and their violent destruction at the hands of corrupt and incompetent people. The lyrics dig deeper with music to match the unvarnished honest examination. We hear words that look into one’s own roots and how those narratives play out in life. And also — unconscious and unintentional though it may be — our participation in dark collective legacies that we can only hope to purge from our lives. This is the soundtrack to that struggle and ongoing awakenings. A must for fans of mclusky, The Jesus Lizard and Shellac. NEVER KENEZZARD – ALMOST LIVE Live, this band comes across as something more straightforward than is revealed on these recordings. Thrashy stoner metal is an obvious sound here, but the way the guitarists bend and stretch tones is truly psychedelic. Almost more in the realm of jazz than most heavy bands. The vocal harmonies paired with more gruff screaming hints at some inspiration from the likes of the more metallic end of a Mike Patton project. There is even a cover of a harder Ween song in “The Grobe” for the last track. Even though one hears beautifully cascading heavy riffs and and finely modulated rhythms, there is a playfulness in Never Kenezzard’s edge. SEE MORE: QUEENCITYSOUNDS.ORG No. 148
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