Been a minute since I did one of these. But I’m back. Here’s more of what’s really good.
Serotonin – Future Anterior
A while back, I listened to an episode of the (((((OPENmind/SATURATEDbrain))))) Podcast where Jeff Smith of Jeromes Dream was the featured guest. I really like the format that Dave takes his guests through. They each pick three songs to listen to together and discuss as part of a larger interview spanning an artist’s trajectory with their bands and life in general. Serotonin’s “Alias” was one of the songs Dave chose, and Jeff (and I) thought it was really cool. Serotonin was a band active from 1995-2003 based in Murfreesboro and Nashville, Tennessee. I had never heard of Murfreesboro, and Nashville has never struck me as a hotbed of punk/indie/DIY guitar music. This is may be why Serotonin has such a low profile, despite this EP being some of the most electrifying post-hardcore I’ve ever heard.
First of all, this record, save for the moody restrained closer “Untitled,” is really fun to listen to. The band plays a dynamic style that takes many twists and turns via tempo changes and explosions and implosions in energy. The rise and fall off intensity occurs on a vocal standpoint too. Phrases turn melodic but never overbearingly so, while occasionally bursting into screams that radiate with a raw passion that can only suggest a deep conviction and belief in this music. When you really mean it, nothing is forced.
“Alias” feels like the climax that the EP is building to and boy does it deliver. This song also features one of the best ever “GO!”s in any kind of guitar music. You know when you can tell some impending payoff, such as super hard riff and/or propulsive rhythmic uptick, is about to come, and someone yells “go” as a command to the band to deliver the goods and the audience to move with the same intensity? That’s what I mean. I heard the go and Serotonin fucking went.
The Now – The Now
As I began exploring the essential releases in the screamo canon, Neil Perry was one group I connected with immediately. Their discography, compiled in full on Lineage Situation, is one I’ll probably write on further in the future. Their later work shows the band moving into very interesting directions with a raw and punishing hardness balanced out by melodic passages that buck the trends of post-rock oriented skramz groups of the era. One thing driving the powerfulness of their work is the drumming of Justin Graves, who plays with a style that is both hard-hitting and stylized with some crazy fills and tasteful spice on the rhythms.
Graves and several other members of Neil Perry, along with Kevin Hardy of Joshua Fit For Battle and Dave Turtzo of Get Fucked, would form somewhat of a skramz super-group in The Now and released one self-titled EP in 2001. The Now synthesize the most violent elements of Neil Perry into short songs with gnarly riffs and panic-chord breakdown-oriented song structures. In leaning further towards metalcore riff-wise, while still maintaining skramz orientation through the vocal style and wordy tongue-in-cheek song titles, this EP is what I would consider the reigning heavyweight champ of “spin-kick screamo,” aka the side of skramz most conducive to hardcore dancing. A future project of mine will be to compile a starter pack/essentials for this “sub-sub-genre/songwriting style,” but consider The Now one of the most pure and concise distillations of this sound.
DJ horse jeans – Moods 58
Dj horse jeans, also known as Jacqueline Codiga, is a DJ and music writer whose contributions to the always entertaining and often very silly Indieheads Podcast I’ve long enjoyed. I’ve ran back this mix of hers many times over the past year. It’s an eclectic blend of several strands of electronic music tied in with slowcore, hip hop, and art pop. What binds it all together is an underlying narrative of the musical creation process. In this storytelling via DJing approach, Codiga blends in interview clips of musical luminaries like Ethel Cain, Madlib, MF Doom, and Alan and Mimi Parker of Low discussing the influence of daily life on their artistry and the processes behind their work in the studio. I never tire of hearing musicians talk about their craft. The passion and curiosity that radiates from their words never ceases to be a source of inspiration, while also inspiring reflection on the gift that is the ability to create art. This mix gives me warm fuzzy feelings for those reasons, while also demonstrating the potentiality for the DJ set to be a piece of art that carries narratives.
False Body – It’s Not Permanent
I think it’s really important to practice gratitude on an ongoing basis. One thing I’ve been quite grateful for is that I happen to live in the same city as False Body. This has let me see this band at least ten times over the last two years, and I swear every set is better than the last. There’s a lot of great bands in the Wild Rose hardcore scene, but I feel like the band is the people’s champ. Their ferocious intense performances command heavy crowd participation in the pit. For me, I feel I lose control of my bodily autonomy as their nasty riffing and sawtoothed snarls of vocalist Michelle Belec trigger some primitive instincts that slip my dancing shoes on. The first spinkick I threw in a pit was due to this band. It was very poorly executed but it felt like the right thing to do.
This new EP by the group will work well as an intro for anyone unfamiliar with the group. It’s heavy, hard, and it barrels you over in 8 minutes that fly by in a frenzy of fury. Their album from two years ago also goes dummy. If you haven’t seen them, go see them. If they aren’t coming to your city, book them.