She Past Away, Mizantrop (Metropolis Records)
The fun-but-depressing part of covering the goth rock sphere is that the artists can come from anywhere in the world but unfortunately it’s hard to tell where sometimes because of all the verisimilitude of the music. Take this duo for example: They’re from Turkey, but they could be from Poughkeepsie if going by the sound alone, but what’s nice is that the lyrics are in Turkish instead of the broken English that usually comes with these packages. I’m sure the verbiage is very deep, at least in that “Well, exactly how deep did Sisters Of Mercy ever get” sort of way, but OK, they do try to emulate early, low-budget Cure and Bauhaus at once; in other words the aesthetic is danceable Fields of the Nephilim all the way, so whatever you’re picturing after knowing the above is probably very close to the reality of it. That being said, there is indeed an exotic ring to this stuff, something melodically unconventional, which is to say it’s not interminably boring although it kind of wants to be. B+
Ronny North, “Snowflakes of Green (Re-Dux)” (Terror Kitty Music)
The holiday tuneage is already starting to fill my inbox, which is a nice change from years past. I do like to give indie artists a chance to make the sugarplums dance in my head, because if someone can’t pull off a decent-enough Christmas song I don’t feel bad smiting them with the old Negan snark-bat, since it might keep them from quitting their day jobs. This here is a special case, given that this L.A.-based hair-metal guitarist’s website’s home page is a giant mystery-meat graphic of the dude that you need to click on before you get to the stuff that looks like something he designed in Alta Vista in 1996, a bunch of blurbs about how Quiet Riot’s drummer and a dozen other industry bit-players think he’s awesome. Anyway, I muttered my Negan incantation: “Little pig, little pig! Let! Me! In!” and clicked the music clicky, and soon enough there was normal happy instrumental Christmas music, bells and jingles at first, but then it became a shred-athon, with North’s guitar completely (no, I mean completely) drowning out the drums and bass (pro tip for bands: don’t do that, not ever), and yes, he shreds like Randy Rhoads, but what am I even supposed to say about a demo tape meant to get this dude a job with Buckcherry or whatever he’s doing? Sorry, but, well, batter up! D-
PLAYLIST
A seriously abridged compendium of recent and future CD releases
• Friday, Oct. 23, comes two days after my birthday, why didn’t you get me anything, but first some analysis. Last month I scribbled a few thoughts about the troubles Ed Sheeran was running into after he fired Macklemore from this year’s tour owing to a political stance (which wasn’t really a political stance, just simply a lose-lose situation that was forced onto Sheeran by peripheral fat cats in the music industry). Now as I write this, the internet’s decided to leave Sheeran alone and chase its latest villain, James Hetfield of Metallica, who made a similar non-statement to a Las Vegas crowd on Oct. 10, to wit: “Metallica is not here, like some other entertainers, to influence you with their [baloney]. OK? We are here … no [baloney] … we’re here to forget about all the outside [baloney], OK?” Now, given that Metallica has no morbidly rich dude dictating whom they can or can’t have as guests on their tour, his wisest move would have been to keep his mouth shut and let people process all the sociopolitical stuff they read on the internet on their own time, so of course the non-statement turned him into the internet’s guest of (dis)honor for days. My own takeaway landed on multiple choice: Either Hetfield was honestly trying to keep “politics” out of his music or he was looking to insert himself into the political conversation, which couldn’t hurt, since the band hasn’t put out a decent album in many years now. Either way, like the Sheeran debacle, the blowback revealed the public’s evolving attitude toward celebrities, or at least the parasocial relationships they have with them. Like it or not, the vintage Frank Zappa quote “Shut up and play your guitar” has never felt more relevant than it does now, but let’s stay on track by discussing Shabazz Palaces, a Seattle-based avant-hip-hop group led by Ishmael Butler, who called himself “Butterfly” when he was in the jazz-rap trio Digable Planets. Their eighth album, It’s a Style Sport, is the full-length followup to 2024’s Exotic Birds of Prey, which had something of an Egyptian feel; this album’s lead single “Ahh World (I Won The Alpha Bet)” sounds appropriately bleeding-edgy and, more importantly, underground, cheaply made but robust, if that makes any sense.
• And the cleverest stage name of ever goes to Canadian indie-glam dude Art d’Ecco, whose sixth album, Scheele’s Green, streets this week. The second single is called “Disappear Here,” and if you want to know exactly what it sounds like, imagine Ric Ocasek of The Cars singing for a band that wants to revive the sound of 1969-era Stooges but with a half-assed saxophone solo. Needless to say there is no new ground broken here.
• In case you have a subscription to Us Weekly and thus an interest in celebrity news, before dating Chrissy Teigen, R&B/soul singer/pianist John Legend was allegedly involved with socialite and musician Wafah Dufour according to various internet news sites, the estranged niece of Osama bin Laden, all of which means literally nothing to people who don’t collect weird factoids. Legend’s new album, Muse, was co-written and produced by Pharrell Williams, including the single “Fireflies,” which features a simple, dark-sounding piano loop that I found pretty neat.
• We’ll wrap up the week with Gus Dapperton, a gender-bending, fashion-allergic bedroom-indie singer from Warwick, N.Y. “Don’t Let Me Down,” the featured single from his new full-length 4 Dear Life, is what you’d hear if Kate Havnevik went yacht-techo, it’s very pretty and completely brainless.
Featured Photo: She Past Away, Mizantrop and Ronny North, “Snowflakes of Green
