Welcome to another weekend music thread, a weekend thread made for just casual talk about music that comes to mind. New stuff, old stuff, random youtube link, concerts – whatever. Plus here’s some stuff from me to fill it out.
New(-ish) Music
The Wolfgang Press – A 2nd Shape
How surprising for me to have dipped a toe into listening to this band earlier this year for them to then release their first album in about 20 years for me too. A 2nd Shape is a dark, broody album of noisy songs that buzz around you while Michael Allen’s low and deep voice drones on about /something/. It’s a late night album for sure, none of the songs reaching for a cheery hook or even a groove that could be called more than slight. Instead it’s one to get a little lost in. Picking up a lyric or two here from a song before you get distracted by following the cycle of a particularly buzzing bit of distortion, admiring an interesting and unexpected guitar sound when it appears.
Origami Angel – Feeling Not Found
Somewhere City I think was a bit of a surprise hit: for the band for sure, for their label, for someone like me who was shocked to find just how much I was listening to it. Riding the energy of a new wave of emo music starting to take shape. That album is what the band does best: a little pop punk, a little math rock, a little hardcore on the edges and most importantly filled with super catchy hooks to sing along to. Following that surprise hit then is to me the huge misfire of an album Gami Gang, a victory lap of an album that sounds like childish whining over any genre they could google fast enough to try out a song. It’s a huge trip and fall for me.
Feeling Not Found definitely pulls it back, settling into what works for them while still pushing those edges gently. The modern hardcore elements are beefed up, and sometimes the sudden pivot into double time drumming and deep riffs is a little awkward but I think it overall at least works much better here. There’s not as many undeniable sing-along hooks on this one to me, but I do think this is an album that will end up growing on me in time.
Some Live Videos
h/t to Bresson for linking this to me earlier, Broken Social Scene live at Massey Hall
Music Threads on the Avocado
Avocado Music Club: weekly album of the week discussions (Wednesday mornings)
This Week: Little Joy – Little Joy
Next Week: …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead – …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead (1998)
The Weekly Music Thread: weekly open music chat, with prompt (Thursday mornings)
This Week: Bands with very different first albums
Friday New Music: talk about the week’s new releases (Friday mornings)
Weekly Shuffle Thread: post music shuffles to a theme (Friday afternoons)
Crate Skimmers: Bresson’s got thoughts on stuff he bought, here he writes about The Beach Boys – 15 Big Ones
🎶🎷🦆🎶