 |
>> You can gauge heaviness by how quickly it gets old. We think the childish downbeat stomp of early Metallica is one of the most yawn-provoking things on the planet. The freeze-framed, soul-shuttering darkness of Sunn0))) can provoke chuckles in public settings, but can creep up on you whenever you’re alone. Queens of the Stone Age used to feel kind of heavy, but whoops, they also kind of feel like the Foo Fighters. Luckily John Bonham’s sluggish kick drum in “Sick Again” is still heaviness de rigueur—we could hear that in fifty years, eating grapes suspended in a hammock, and still probably fall over. And lucky for us, Zeppelin-style heaviness is also a model that seems to inspire ARCANE LORE, the two-piece heavy blues unit comprised of frontwoman Katie Gilchrest and drummer Brandye Devine, to make Goldfish, a fabulous new full-length album we didn’t even see coming. Recorded by Jonathan Wyman at Halo Studios, the thing smokes, waaaay punchier and more psychedelic than their 2012 effort Change of Mind. Huge riffs, soaringly confident vocals, and wonderfully suspended arrangements, flickering with bursts of detailed noise that keep us locked in the whole way through. Visit arcaneloremusic.bandcamp.com to hear what might make its way onto many locals’ year-end list of heavyweights.
>> Does anybody have an idea where you can dance in this town? Besides the clubs, we mean...
>> No matter where you are now, we have no doubt you started out like APATHETIC EUPHEMISM. The Topsham-based two-piece plays way-fucked bedroom folk siphoned through all kinds of filters and obscurities. You can barely understand it—and yet! It’s so listenable, even if the experience of the listen mostly sends us back to the sweet dumbness of our youth. That’s right, this is two young-sounding dudes recording straight to tape. They released a literal slew of them this summer, all sounds ranging from half-winking twee ballads to total noise shutdowns balancing on a fulcrum of pop melody. Of course there’s Guided By Voices-worship going on; that doesn’t mean you’re going to like it. Wouldn’t be surprised to hear a real-song version of “Greene Afternoon” performed somewhere in Portland in a couple years. Visit apatheticeuphemism.bandcamp.com.
