“Suck the soul right through the mouth. My family needs to feast/It feels good for a minute, but then it goes/My sisters need to eat/You wanna see it through my eyes? You don't.” - Code Orange
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| Horns up |
New Horizons
Hello Mary – Emita Ox
A New York based act, their second LP is a joyous blend of Midwest emo, noise rock and post-punk without ever feeling contrived or self-consciously stuck together. Songs like ‘Float’ start off as gentle and folk like before the tempos speed up and the screams are introduced, while ‘0%’ are throbbing sonic landscapes with some jangly riffage. An LP for autumn.
The album can be streamed and purchased here.
High Vis – Guided Tour
The third release from the London/Merseyside indie punk act sees them carry on with their blend of baggy, melodic hardcore and Britpop that manages to be defiant and melancholic. ‘Drop Me Out’ sounds like Husker Du via The Enemy, ‘Mind’s a Lie’ is an electro number that (for some reason) reminds me of Section 25 and ‘Feeling Bliss’ has a swagger that belies its lyrics.
The album can be streamed and purchased here.
The Body – The Crying Out of Things
For their second full length release of 2024 (and first non-collaborative record since 2021) the lads from Providence, Rhode Island have delivered a deep, thick sounding slab of distorted heaviness. Echoes of Kevin Martin’s work aplenty in the hard-hitting beats and scuzzy basslines (‘A Premonition’ is one such example of this). 25 years on, The Body still deliver killer albums.
The album can be streamed and purchased here.
Lush Worker – Sear
Known for his exemplary work with Drunk in Hell, Lush Worker allows Mike Vest to be as loud and droney as he wants but also much more free form. This release is a one track, 40-minute improv session that soars to great heights in order to create a noisy, yet dreamlike backdrop while the foreground alternates between heaviness and moodiness.
The album can be streamed and purchased here.
Pound Land - Live at New River Studios/Worried
Part studio part live, this latest release from the sludgy industrial punk kings captures what makes Pound Land so compelling: the live set is plummeting but intricate (especially with the addition of Rob Pratt on electronics) and the studio side is a thirty-minute single track that skips sonic landscapes with the agility of a grasshopper. Long live Pound Land.
The album can be streamed and purchased here.
Golden Oldies
New Order – Brotherhood
Viewed as something of a disappointment when originally released in 1986, time and subsequent listening has revealed the album to be one of New Order’s finest. With one side focusing on the guitar driven side of the band and the flipside being sequencer driven, we got the purest distillation of New Order’s mission statement. Plus, it has ‘Bizarre Love Triangle’.
Agnostic Front – Cause for Alarm
Crossover thrash engulfed New York’s finest in 1986 and this album was the end product of this dalliance. Still controversial in punk circles due to ‘Public Assistance’ (which bemoans dole scroungers), other songs document the tension in NY at the time due to Bernhard Goetz (‘Shoot His Load’), the threat of nuclear war (‘Bomber Zee’) and the cheapness of life (‘The Eliminator’).
The Orb - Okie Dokie It's The Orb on Kompakt
By 2005, The Orb were seen as has beens: big beat was still doing the rounds, and the sleazy sounds of electroclash were bleeding over into the indie scene. However, this release saw Orb collaborator Thomas Fehlmann take the reigns from Alex Patterson and the end result was a dub/minimal techno record with tracks like ‘Kan Kan’ that proved The Orb could still compete.
Parliament – Mothership Connection
The moment where Afrofuturism became funky, this 1976 release from George Clinton’s travelling circus of funk meisters grooves like a bastard, is out of this world in terms of concept and hangs together amazingly well. Seven-minute opener ‘P-Funk (Wants To Get Funked Up)’ is a deranged radio broadcast and ‘Unfunky UFO’ blends funk with early electronics.
⏩ Christopher Owens was a reviewer for Metal Ireland and finds time to study the history and inherent contradictions of Ireland. He is currently the TPQ Friday columnist.
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