Tag Archive for: underground music

THE THERMALS, “RETURNING TO THE FOLD”

THE THERMALS, “RETURNING TO THE FOLD”

decisions today, and listening to The Thermals’ “Returning To The Fold” feels as urgent and present as when the song was released. Hutch Harris’ lyrics twist in knots over blind faith and deception, with lines like “I regret leaving my soul/I forgot I needed it to feel” and “But I still have faith/If I ever had faith/Wait for me, wait for me” tracing the deep divide between the narrator’s beliefs and the reality he’s in. The track, a brief aside from the album’s story of escaping a fascist faux-Christian America, sounds like a blueprint that garage rock’s been building off over the past fifteen years: pulsing rhythm guitar, cymbal-heavy drums, and soaring, half-shouted vocals draped over top. It’s well worth a revisit, for the compassion and verve that The Thermals bring to their music and for the all-too-relevant commentary it contains.

Want to hear us talk about this song? Check out episode #100 of our podcast at hlycrp.com.

DEFAULT AMERICAN, “THE LIFE OF ME”

DEFAULT AMERICAN, “THE LIFE OF ME”

The faint hum of feedback bookends Default American’s “The Life Of Me,” an unanswered sound that’s there if you’re looking for it throughout the song. It’s an apt metaphor for a song about addiction: the hum is ever-present, and ready to either take over or fade into the background at a moment’s notice. The track charts a similarly twisty road to recovery, as lyrics describe leaving rehab and feeling that “the thought of being sober was one I could not afford.” Default American builds the back-and-forth over acoustic strums and full band crescendos, lucidly tracking the pressures that lead to dependence and the tumult of trying to get clean.

Want to hear us talk about this song? Check out episode #100 of our podcast at hlycrp.com.

Here it: https://defaultamerican.bandcamp.com/album/the-life-of-me-single

LA PALMA, “OHIO”

LA PALMA, “OHIO”

La Palma’s “Ohio” finds intimacy in earnest, contemplative lyrics over lo-fi acoustic picks and strums. The best bedroom pop feels like gazing into a jewel box the artist created, and Chris Walker’s lyrics walk the line between sentiment and sentimentality with ease. As the song considers the simple desire to see a loved one before declaring “I know we’ll be okay,” the track blossoms into a fragile finger-picked bridge, with the repeated refrain “Ohayo gozaimasu/Old Ohio is gone” carrying us into silence. It’s a gorgeous exit to a reassuring song in this time of uncertainty and disconnect.

Want to hear us talk about this song? Check out episode #100 of our podcast at hlycrp.com.

Hear it: https://lapalmamusic.bandcamp.com/track/ohio

Ep 103 – `Quarantine 7: Come Back, Stupid Ideas’ With music by: Tin Roof Echo, Rosie & the Rats, Crooked Ghost, The Snake of June, PEEL, Day & Dream, Mary Ellen Bush

Ep 103 – `Quarantine 7: Come Back, Stupid Ideas’ With music by: Tin Roof Echo, Rosie & the Rats, Crooked Ghost, The Snake of June, PEEL, Day & Dream, Mary Ellen Bush

Best of the underground, week of April 28, 2020: Trying our best to get dumb again. John makes a song from high heels. Cinnamon corrects John’s faulty, faulty existential thinking and raps over a train. (All podcasts and reviews are on www.hlycrp.com, and you can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.)

This week we played:

“There’s a Town” by Tin Roof Echo

 

“Greenwich Meantime” by Rosie & the Rats (prerelease)

“He’s Gone” by Crooked Ghost (Ray Larkin)

“Fuck You Corona” by The Snake of June

“Ballad of Dougie Ramone” by PEEL

“Nocturnal Creatures” by Day & Dream

“I Know What it’s Like” by Mary Ellen Bush (hlycrp exclusive)

Ep 102:`Quarantine 6: The Healing Power of Music’ With music by: Tine Nymann, Cold Choir, Bungalow Bums, Sang Sarah, Teen Girl Scientist Monthly, Grace Joyner

Ep 102:`Quarantine 6: The Healing Power of Music’ With music by: Tine Nymann, Cold Choir, Bungalow Bums, Sang Sarah, Teen Girl Scientist Monthly, Grace Joyner

Best of the underground, week of April 21, 2020: Get ye healed! We’re bringing the stuff that can do it. This podcast also includes our first band from Russia and our first artist from Denmark YESSSSSS. (April Madness finals are tuesday 4/21: Check the Holy Crap Records facebook page 7-8 pm 👍) (All podcasts and reviews are on www.hlycrp.com, and you can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.) 

This week we played:

Into the Light by Tine Nymann

Neon Kiss by Sang Sarah

Eternal Slumber Party by Teen Girl Scientist Monthly

Hung the Moon by Grace Joyner

Time is Gonna Kill You by Bungalow Bums

Neon Kiss by Cold Choir

Ep 101 – `Quarantine 5: Stuff We Learned from B.Y.’ With music by: Schoolboy Cubemaster, Limp Wrist, Lumps, Botwins Are Dead, Fantomex, Butthole

Ep 101 – `Quarantine 5: Stuff We Learned from B.Y.’ With music by: Schoolboy Cubemaster, Limp Wrist, Lumps, Botwins Are Dead, Fantomex, Butthole

Best of the underground, week of April 14, 2020: Probably the hardest podcast we’ve ever made. Many, many apologies for the violin. But enjoy the music! It is fantastic. (April Madness is ongoing: Check the Holy Crap Records facebook page 7-8 pm nightly 👍) (All podcasts and reviews are on www.hlycrp.com, and you can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.)

This week we played:

THEFREAKYGHOSTOFVIRGINIABEACH by Schoolboy Cubemaster (prerelease)

When Will You Come by Butthole

Defeat by Rich Seibert

Facades by Limp Wrist

Bad Brakes by Fantomex

Covid 19 by Botwins are Dead

New Moves by Lumps (prerelease)

The MIssing Stares, “Isolation”

The MIssing Stares, “Isolation”

Bow down to the kings and queens of garage rock-n-roll. Classic 1950s rock-n-roll blues guitar, sped up and doused with liquid attitude. The vocals are distorted to the level that you can’t understand anything – but it doesn’t matter. This is a shot of adrenalin straight to the heart. AND THEN… half the way through this burning garage anthem it slows and snakes around and rearranges its molecules into an extended psychedelic rocker. One way or another this song will fry your mind.

Want to hear us talk about this song? Check out episode #97 of our podcast at hlycrp.com.

Symptoms, “Diagnosed”

Symptoms, “Diagnosed”

This is what happens when you roll into Cafe Nine in New Haven on a Monday night – and a band of barely alive road punks crawl up on stage and blast one of the most tight, blistering sets you’ve ever witnessed. One of the high points, the apotheosis of their sound is “Diagnosed,” which they shared with Musicians for Overdose Prevention. This song is so fast and so tight and also careening off the rails, barely holding on for this ride. The voice is raw and real and spits the absolute truth. The drums are nothing but attack after attack, smashes and rolls, a pure street fighter. And finally the guitar takes a blowtorch to your ears. This is as good as it gets.

Want to hear us talk about this song? Check out episode #97 of our podcast at hlycrp.com.

Victima Del Vaciamiento, “I Know The Neighbors Hate Me”

Victima Del Vaciamiento, “I Know The Neighbors Hate Me”

The nature of this song is completely foreign to my experience – I know the neighbors love me! I’m super well behaved, except when we were having band practice once and we live next to an event space and our music was ruining a wedding and we were asked to keep it down… F*ck those guys! But not the wonderful Victima Del Vaciamiento and this blast of snotty pop bliss. This is classic early 60s pop, super catchy, through the filter of badly behaved Argentinian punks.

Want to hear us talk about this song? Check out episode #97 of our podcast at hlycrp.com.