September already and alas, summer still hasn’t begun. Some of us Brits have even confessed to having the heating on this summer, what a washout. Well, BC Friday is here to make it all better, at the very least it’s Friday so you can go get drunk and listen to this month’s impeccable selections. We’ve got some surfy rock, some sad boy electronica, strangely appealing industrial metal that’s just on the verge of cringe but somehow holds its integrity and an album that combines the art of shred with astrology.
No Violet – Faces
Having recently had the pleasure of seeing these play at Nottingham’s finest converted fruit and veg warehouse turned music venue, shout out to JT Soar. I can confirm that No Violet are a bonefide powerhouse of alt-rock, grunge awesomeness that everyone must simply go and watch now. Sounding a bit like if The Cranberries met Karate and then had a thrupple with early Muse, yeah I know that’s a weird comparative combination but trust me it’s there, No Violet are a Sub Pop sign up waiting to happen. (KH)
Devon Hendryx – THE GHOST-POP TAPE
Deemed the ultimate internet sad boy album by one Bandcamp commentator, I have to say I’m inclined to agree (except for maybe Teen Suicide) if it’s not the ultimate, it’s definitely in the top ten. THE GHOST-POP TAPE features elements of vaporwave, electronica and even noise, all punctuated by Hendryx’s autotuned vocals. It is the passive-aggressive response to being emotional in the modern age, where actual emotion seems inauthentic. Featuring the slowest cover of Carly Rae Jepson’s ‘Call Me Maybe’ that’s potentially ever been attempted whilst sounding as though it’s been recorded in a mostly empty art gallery amongst uninterested foot – traffic, it’s worth a listen for that alone. (KH)
Suffocate For Fuck Sake – Blazing Fires And Helicopters On The Frontpage Of The Newspaper. There’s A War Going On And I’m Marching In Heavy Boots
Am I even allowed to print this band’s name? Okay, good, just checking. Aside from padding out the page’s length, Blazing Fires and Helicopters offers a synergistic blend of post-hardcore and post-rock, soundtracking a story told through spoken word recordings in the band’s native Swedish and lyrical sections in English.
As one would expect from the genres it draws on, Suffocate For Fuck Sake are able to go from ethereal to pummelling as the story requires – but the full force of the blows require you to understand their language. Dig out a translation of the Swedish sections and read along with the album for full effect. (Thomas Mannay)
Sally Dige – Holding On
I’m not sure what to say about this other than that it’s really good. Similarly to bands like Drab Majesty, this sounds like it should have come out in the mid 80s, but it’s from the last decade. Yet (also like Drab Majesty) the music’s not reveling in nostalgia for the 80s, it just happens to use the sounds of that decade to paint its own picture. And that picture is a very solid and danceable darkwave album. (TM)
Ben Katzman – Astrology 101
An album that combines both shredding and astrology with each song devoted to a zodiac sign is worthy of a mention just for the ingenuity alone. Much like the celestial bodies that govern our fates, Katzman’s guitar prowess ignites a blazing trail through the sonic universe. ‘Astrology 101’ melds the art of shredding with the mystique of astrology, crafting a genre-defying experience that resonates with both rock aficionados and stargazers alike.
Each track on this astral expedition mirrors the traits of different zodiac signs, infusing the album with a diverse range of emotions and energies. Katzman translates the essence of each sign into a shredding symphony. The album also features appearances from members of Potty Mouth, Illuminati Hotties and the one and only Colleen Green. (KH)
Curse Mackey – Immortal Emporium
Much like early Nine Inch Nails, this album gleefully straddles the line of cringe – almost, but never quite crossing it, whilst remaining entirely earnest the whole way through. Personally, I love it.
Its pop hooks keep the 90s industrial style edge in check, but without restraining that edge so much that the album’s industrial sound becomes a shallow aesthetic to be discarded when the next trend rolls around. Interestingly enough, Curse Mackey has been making industrial in some form or another since the 90s. (TM)
Passion Fruit Boys – ST
Passion Fruit Boys bring a brow-beaten, surfed-out end-of-summer vibe that’s perfect to see out the non-summer we’ve had in the UK this year. Sounding a little bit like The Strokes if they had been raised on a diet of Californian kale and midnight campfires rather than smokey NYC dive bars, The Passion Fruit Boys self-titled album carries an undeniable sense of nostalgia for beachside adventures and carefree summers. (KH)
PROBLEM PATTERNS – Lesbo 3000
Belfast based agit punk group Problem Patterns deliver an assault of visceral anger in under two minutes on ‘Lesbo 3000’ a shot of riot grrrl and a fearsome take down of homophobia, that flips the script on abuse. “Call me a dyke its a badge of honour/Call me a Dyke I wear it with pride!” they scream with indignant and self empowered rage as a cavalcade of shouts, arms legs, guitar riffs and barreling drum rolls all collapse in a heap on the floor. Bloody brilliant and frankly unstoppable.
It’s lifted from their upcoming album Blouse Day out on the 27th of October.
They say “Problem Patterns are not limited by age or ability or binary identities. They don’t have a front person, they swap instruments and roles to ensure that each member of the group has a voice. The band’s admiration for Bikini Kill and the riot grrrl movement led to an online conversation with the artist Kathleen Hanna, who advised them from her Los Angeles porch. She told them that if there wasn’t a backlash, then Problem Patterns weren’t doing their job properly.” (BC)
Film School – Tape Rewind
Los Angeles / The Bay area band Film School, released their new album Field at the end of August on Felte Records! It’s described as “11 songs of immersive shoegaze indebted tunes, that don’t fall down into the pedal worship dirges with no sonic personality. Their production is so easy to get lost in, with hints of dub, krautrock synth work and Martin Hannett ish post punk flourishes, it’s just a feast of sound. I can’t imagine anyone whos stoked on the current blooming of shoegaze couldn’t find alot to low here. It doesn’t easily sit within those confines with alot of influences really swirling around but this is psychedelic music in the truest sense. “
The opening track and first single ‘Tape Rewind’ is one of the most awe inspiring songs I’ve heard this year this swirling, cloud of dream rock, is sewn with beautiful layered boy/girl vocals that plunge deep, amidst a imperious storm of crushing fuzz riffs and propulsive percussion, ethereal yet has a explosive edge as the outro hits you wave upon hit you by the solar plexus it’s the sound of the planet rebelling at the ravages man has wrought upon it. With nods to My Bloody Valentine and Sonic Boom, it has a crunching more immersive edge, it’s a stunningly epic song from an impressive album. (BC)
PLAGUE PITS – Ghost Acreage
Plague Pits is a collective from Bern, Switzerland. Inspired by the D.I.Y. electronic tape underground of yore, they play disco dirges for the Anthropocene – cold wave for a heating planet. On the superb ‘Ghost Acreage’ the lead track from their new album Creatures due at the end of this month. They retool the sounds of early Human League, Kraftwerk and Devo for 2023, with a evocative and inventive tapestry of zig zagging synth pop, and deadpan vocals, there’s a mechanical desolate atmosphere created by the vivid imagery that speaks of the pistons and furnaces of machinery and business, the greedy need for growth and production that continues endlessly regardless of the human sacrifices to power it. (BC)
DOLLY VALENTINE – The In-Between
Dolly Valentine is an American singer-songwriter from Cincinnati, Ohio. Ahead of her new album The In-Between out on 15th of September with Awal. Produced/mixed by Jamie Smith and Ali Chant (Perfume Genius, Aldous Harding) It was recorded over a few months in winter 2022 in an old church in the Highlands of Scotland. She calls the sound ‘fairy western’ a hazy stew of atmospheric and tenderly drawn folk, indie, country and dream pop. She says “I used a process of dream work and automatic writing to write the lyrics and base of the songs and the other instrumentation was all done spontaneously. ” That’s certainly evident on the haunting and spectral ‘Rest Awhile’ that swirls with the ghosts of the likes of Kristin Hersh and Mazzy Star. On the evidence of what we’ve heard so far, the album will be a beguiling world to encounter. (BC)
