WILT_2023-17

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 23 Apr 2023 to 29 Apr 2023.

1. Ptolemaea – Ethel Cain
2. Rolling Out the Red Carpet – Hail The Sun
3. Dam That River – Alice In Chains
4. Bust – Lomelda
5. The Blue – Acid Bath
6. Porno Witch – Devil’s Witches
7. A Sad Cartoon – Loathe
8. Nervous Habits – Narrow Head
9. Karma – Raue
10. flutter – julie
11. life imitates life – quannnic
12. snarky – quannnic

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2023-17

Notes

Ptolemaea by Ethel Cain was a recommended album on Spotify for me last week. I clicked in because the album artwork reminded me of PJ Harvey and Tori Amos, and the name Ethel Cain was intriguing to me because it seemed contain some sort of banal dread. Ptolemaea is a reference to Dante’s Inferno, a place in hell designated for traitors against guests in their home. Cain has a unique perspective that lends to her craft and performance, and a welcome contribution to song form.

Rolling Out the Red Carpet by Hail The Sun came on next and I think the 6/8 timing made it an interesting listen when I first included it, but now I am glad that it is a short song. No shade, the intensity is increased because it is a burst of energy that gets the job done before it becomes work. 

I sought out Alice In Chains after a conversation with a friend and we were reminiscing about the nineties grunge scene. That evening I put on some of their earlier albums and was reminded how innovative their grooves and riffs are. Dam That River highlights a lot of the strong suits of the band. Powerful vocals and gnarly lyrics that are pushed ahead by a guitar riffs and tones that sound like they were fuelled by environmentally unsafe propellants. Somehow, that is the way I like it when it comes to rock music, a bit like eating the burnt ends at the barbecue. 

At this point I thought that the playlist would take on a more grunge vibe, but Bust by Lomelda came on and I thought I had added her music to these playlists before but I had not. Bust has a simplicity and efficiency behind the song craft and arrangement, but it is the tinge of melancholia in the lyrics and performance that makes it spellbinding to me.

What stood out for me in The Blue was obviously the gnarly basslines, but the more I listen to it, is the elements of black metal, grunge, and hardcore music that make for a very unique listen. The lyrics are very crusty, but sold so well by Dax David Riggs’s uninhibited performance and energy. 

So, The Blue came on because I was actively searching for music that sounded more like Alice In Chains. Spotify’s algorithm was definitely not cutting it because it was suggesting bands that were equally as famous as them and I had heard most of them already. So good old fashioned skulking on forums and music blogs was one way to find bands like Acid Bath, where the knowledge is not just retained by humans still alive, but also recommended with a passion because they so strongly believe in the connection within their own neural net, rather than a synthetic neural net that has not yet achieved its own sense of self. But perhaps this should be a discussion for another time.

I did rely on an a recommendation engine right after The Blue, so that also shows you the power and speed in which these recommendation engines can potentially adjust themselves. It is both terrifying at how quickly they adapt, yet also astounding how our organic minds will have access to even more relevant or new information with the assistance of AI.

Porno Witches by Devil’s Witches came on next and I was hesitant to include something from the stoner rock genre, yet when the guitar solo came on, fully backed by a bass playing straight eights, this was not your typical green journey and somehow incorporated some of that nineties alternative grunge magic.

A Sad Cartoon by Loathe sounds like a mix between Deftness and Legionnaire. The big riff during the chorus is so much fun to listen to and reminds me that rock music can still be massive and sensitive all at once.

From here on in, the algorithm started recommending a bunch of fairly recent songs that reference the early-to-mid-nineties grunge and alternative sound. Nervous Habits by Narrow Head does sound like a throwback to Nirvana, but with a more crushing guitar tone. Karma by Raue is high frenetic energy by a two-piece and I am here all day for this outpouring of energy and earnestness. That vocal melody is sick as well, and the guitar counter-melodies work so well to make the song interesting to listen to. I am definitely looking forward to see what more bands like this will put out.

Go check out the bio written by juliejulie on their Spotify profile. It is a very telling trend I have noticed about the current youth generation, and how post-modernism and post-truth is more easily accepted and presented as an art form or expression. Still, flutter is a banger and I love how the guitars and bass sound, almost as if they were double-tracked together. It adds a certain zing and depth to the overall tone, rather than your typical lo-fi rock songs.

quannnic rounds out this playlist. life imitates art does take me back to when I first tried to play Deftone’s Digital Bath, but also tried to make my own thing with it. However I think it is snarky where I think quannnic’s sound really does take shape and shines, however not in a literal way. Tonally, everything is squashed and flat, and I do not know if it is by intent or design, or by limitation. I will assume that there is some sort of design because I think the tone does add to the expression, a sort of hazy and meandering searching for meaning. I am also happy to include it into the list because I do enjoy how the chorus sounds instrumentally. I like how the lead guitars are sitting under the overall chord structure rather than over it, and it does achieve a sort of murky undercurrent which seems to be a general theme in the music.