New Music Friday: Celestial Travelogue, Crystalline Grunge
July 17 releases include Helado Tropical, Quicksand, Kate Carr, Beastlor, Cinder Well, Tiger Bear Wolf, Left to Die
Hello from a series of planes, trains and automobiles on my way down to Georgia for a long weekend to celebrate my brother’s 40th trip around the sun. Most of today’s new music recs were written with my thumbs.
Elsewhere…
The first grindcore band at the Tiny Desk HAD to be the founding fathers. Circle up, y'all, I brought freaking NAPALM DEATH to my office space. By the time you get this newsletter, we may have already hit 1 million views. The response to this show has left both the Metal Internet and myself gobsmacked. My heart is full.
Stream the Viking's Choice Guide to New Music Friday mixtape. Follow me on Bandcamp and check out previous mixes via Buy Music Club.
Helado Tropical, Helado Tropical
Helado Negro and Fabi Reyna's sweet and sweaty collaboration is such a vibe. Soft, simmering songs shift and sizzle like heat waves on the stickiest of summer nights. Pairs nicely with a smoked and sugary, guava-inspired cocktail.
Quicksand, Bring on the Psychics
There is a cinematic sheen to Quicksand's signature crystalline grunge that only works in Walter Schreifels' hands. And then he'll toss off a stoner metal riff like it's a pop song. A hooky, ripping post-hardcore record that just rocks.
Kate Carr, Vertical London (New Year's Day)
A recommendation: Listen to these gorgeously captured and thoughtfully processed field recordings of London while doing some mundane task. A celestial travelogue of the spaces you've ignored or never known.
Beastlor, Allah
Mick Barr's (Krallice) frenetic and technical riffs surge on this solo black metal joint, but the layers of woozy counterpoint almost suggest the dark and gloomy atmosphere of Killing Joke without sounding at all like the post-punk pioneers.
Cinder Well, A Blooming Body
With stark arrangements that billow like storm clouds, Amelia Baker’s bummer ballads still seek out the light between the cracks. Fans of Patrick Walker (40 Watt Sun) and Jason Molina (Magnolia Electric Co.) will find a new fave.
Tiger Bear Wolf, Tiger Bear Wolf
Southern rock swagger, math rock rigor and a heavy dose of psychedelic Stooges-style primitivism to make it extra nasty. Whole record hangs like a suntanned arm out of an old Dodge Ram on a swamp-ass summer day.
Left to Die, Initium Mortis
Nerdy metal historian Matt Harvey exhumes (sorry) proto-Death demos from 1983-1985 and gives them new flesh. Essentially a brief, but buzzing bibliography of Evil Chuck’s early influences as he figured what death metal could be.
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