A PLACE FOR OWLS – ALL THIEVES VOL. 1 An intimate examination of the roots of the impulse to compete with others that seems so deeply embedded BY TOM MURPHY into the American psyche. With a production style that sounds like it was all recorded in a backyard shed studio on tranquil weekend winter mornings, these warm and fragile songs explore human connection and what it means to be in community. Not as a slogan, but as the organic bonds that develop whether we consciously recognize them or not. BLEAKHEART – A STONE THROWN TO SILENCE The key changes that flow though this album takes an already beyond devastated melancholic sound into even deeper and darker territory. There are times in life when it seems like you’ve hit rock bottom with your emotions. And if you’re dealing with a series of personal losses or chronic, serious illness, it feels like you’ve reached another painful low with no real hope for getting better. The sheer heaviness of that experience can be uncomfortable to express. Yet BleakHeart’s goth slowcore here conveys it all completely without dragging you down. Because with life, there is hope. BLOOD INCANTATION – ALL GATES OPEN – ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK The minimalist synth soundscapes and the aesthetic of the album is like something that exists in the same creative universe as the Pink Floyd video for “Welcome to the Machine.” At it’s core there is a sense of wonder and leaning into the acceptance of new experiences human history has yet to document in other parts of the universe, which few, if any of us, will get to witness firsthand. It’s like a Krautrock soundtrack to finding elusive stargates in Sedona and Mexico’s Zone of Silence. BLOOD OUT – BLOOD OUT #2 Weaving together oscillating, distorted drones with free jazz saxophone akin to leftfield innovators like Albert Ayler, Peter Brötzmann and Anthony Braxton. The way Ayler was inspired by John Cage’s approach to improvisational composition, one hears an obvious attempt to synthesize techniques of expression. Highly detailed electro minimalism and modal jazz maximalism work in perfect sync to create a sonic headspace well outside of mundane reality. CATASTROPHE RISING – S/T A coldwave epic that both celebrates countercultural existence as an act of resistance to fascism and pointedly critiques the authoritarian program. At once intentionally lo-fi, sonically gritty and atmospheric, these 16 songs draw on the righteous and angry energy of punk and the caustic social commentary of early deathrock. One gets a palpable sense that these tracks are informed by how late capitalism demands everything and more from you with nothing to give back. But also, the deep knowledge that you don’t have to go along with the program without biting back. CHROMA LIPS – CHROMAZONE There is a distinctive mood and visual sense the band seems to be evoking here. Musically it’s a pure fusion of R&B-infused psych garage and Krautrock. Pairing soaring female vocals and male vocals that sound contemplatively observant. It’s like music from a future time — after the American Empire has fallen, with much of it neglected beyond control of any particular political entity for a while. Before national unification is accomplished again with plans to revamp what “America” used to be. Where people will drive darkened highways searching for thrills and meaning and projecting possibilities onto the sprawl of civilizational decay. SHOCKER MOM – MEAT DAD Moody, ambient trap backdrops to stories and narrative portraits of American disassociation and self-rediscovery in a time when it would be easier and often preferable to retreat into a low-key personal villain era. Robin Walker is a gifted and powerful singer. Here she opts for a vocal style that reflects how modern reality feels so mediated that the simple intimacies of analog life can feel dispiritingly out of reach. But through ambient beats, distorted synths and genuinely creepy soundscapes, Walker guides us through present-day anxieties with a gentle touch. Her starkly emotional and poetic honesty is something we deeply need in a time where so much is thrown our way that we can become numb to our humanity. This album reminds us that it’s better to feel the feels and not ignore them even when they’re uncomfortable. SEE MORE: QUEENCITYSOUNDS.ORG No. 151
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