Digest October 2021
This post is part of the Digest series.
Update: Edo made a Spotify playlist of this digest.
I’ve gotten to know Men I Trust a while back and what a luck, they just dropped a new album in August (yes, I skipped two months worth of digest, so buckle up). For this next song called Organon, it’s as if you start playing a record, but then the room gets hot and the records start melting. But not in a bad way. You kind of dig it and pour yourself a red wine.
The new album of Men I Trust is great, but I’ve become somewhat addicted to their old album Headroom. Take for example this song with ephemeral vocals, but a slowly emerging thick arpeggio that gives it a nice drive:
Okay, staying a bit in the same vibe, give this beautifully sad song a listen. Put this on your “music for break ups” playlist. Actually, you can just go ahead and put the whole album on that list.
In the previous digest, I included a latest BADBADNOTGOOD single. This month the full album dropped and it’s worth the listen. Here is another gem (the video is again a piece of art in its own right):
When this song was released all the way back in April I deliberately chose not to include it in my digest. Well, I was an absolute idiot! This song gets better with every listen. There’s actually no sound in this song that’s not quite unique. It’s as if the instruments go off the rails sometimes, yet it’s never off key and quite perfect. The drums are minimalistic, yet if you listen you’ll notice all these little shifts and breaks. The vocals go from low, warm and fuzzy to this absolutely crazy moment (e.g. from 2:30 on) where it sounds as if two people are singing at the same time.
The next one is not new, but scratches all the right itches for me. I have a huge soft spot for ghostly female vocals over darker sounding music, like techno or metal. The apotheosis reminds me of Gesaffelstein or Jon Hopkins, and the visuals of the clip are brilliant:
Okay, we’re approaching the moment where the faint of heart may call it quits. The next two are loud. Spiritbox recently dropped a new album. Holy Roller and Constance are both great songs released earlier as singles. I haven’t decided yet, but I think the opening song may actually be my favorite (unfortunately no clip):
Amenra dropped a new album with Dutch lyrics a few months back. Listening to Amenra has a spiritual quality to it, it’s condensed catharsis. Colin screams like he’s leaving his body. Don’t afraid to put up the volume :-)