Tuesday, June 2, 2015

More Stuff I Missed from NGHTCRWLRS, Psychiatric Metaphors, and Hot Blood

Hot Blood at their release show for Overcome Part 1.

Roundup Number 2

Going through my inbox and my stacks of CDs (and flexis) has revealed a few more things that I always meant to say something about -- thought I had said something about even. Here are three more New Jersey releases of note for you to go check.

NGHTCRWLRS, NGHTCRWLRS

Another project of Sniffling Indie Kids co-founder Frank DeFranco (see: Fleeting), NGHTCRWLRS also feature one of Frank's partners in label moguldom in Eric Goldberg along with Brian Goglia and Max Rauch. The foursome meld the sounds of classic indie rock, shoegaze, and post-hardcore into a sometimes tongue-in-cheek bit of weirdness that gets pretty epic at times.

We premiered single "You're Living the Life" here. That song is a good example of NGHTCRWLRS' combination of influences as jangly guitars give way to an explosion of noise. Songs like opener "Smiling" and set-closer "Reclusive Me" also highlight that combination of indie twang and swirling noise. "Insert Name Here" relies heavily on some 90s sounding octaves. Goldberg's high-register delivery gives everything some added tension. The band also aren't afraid to get deeply philosophical with lyrics like "Jabroni / Eat pepperoni" on "Homies."

NGHTCRWLRS is available as a Name Your Price download over at NGHTCRWLRS' Bandcamp page.



Hot Blood, Overcome Part 1

I posted the video for "Blood On My Hands." I recorded and posted a video for "Rust." I told you about Hot Blood's release show. But I never gave this set a proper review here. The songs on Overcome Part 1 have been part of Hot Blood's sets and part of my own personal rotation for a while, so I guess I just took them for granted. Mistake.

I wrote about Downtown Boys a while back that I was impressed by their politically-charged punk, impressed "that someone in American popular music in 2015 is actually singing about these things at all." Hot Blood have been singing about these things since they started. The physical edition of Overcome Part 1 (a flexi disc put out by our friends at Little Dickman Records) includes a freakin' manifesto by Rick Perosi for Chrissake.

The Pete Steinkopf-produced set is short, to-the-point, and incredibly cohesive. "Rust" and "Blood On My Hands" deal with the subjugation of an unskilled working class constantly kept on the brink of ruin by a society that sees them as chattel. An ultra-militarized police force keeps the rabble in check in "Cop In A Tank." A re-recorded "Class Warfare" is the inevitable explosion that results from all of this built-up pressure.

It's hardcore. Angular, stabbing guitars from Alex Rosen and Mat Kiley. Vocals that make you wonder how Kiley does it without blowing out his larynx. A Gattling gun rhythm section of Charlie Schafer and Billy Straniero. But these are also songs with musicality and choruses. Hardcore for people who don't think they like hardcore.

Overcome Part 1 is a joint release between Little Dickman Records (physical) and Basement Records (digital). The packaging on the flexi is extremely cool with artwork by Rosen and that included manifesto.



Psychiatric Metaphors, "Hexenkopf"

Sam Taylor's psychedelic experiment, Psychiatric Metaphors, rolls on with single "Hexenkopf." Part of a comp called Pizza or Die, "Hexenkopf" comes down a little more on the "punk" side of Pychiatric Metaphors' version of "psych-punk."

It chugs along on a repeated riff. Taylor's reverbed and buried vocals and a set of backing "oooh ooohs" give an appropriate level of dark spookiness to a song whose title translates to "Witch's Head" and may refer to a hill in Pennsylvania supposedly haunted by the vengeful ghost of a hanged witch.

The Pizza or Die comp, as well as "Hexenkopf" are Name Your Price downloads at Bandcamp.



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