Tracks of Note: 4/25/2025

Hesse Kassel, STERÖID, Pizza Hotline

Taking a quick break next week to run something for Bandcamp Friday. Onward.

Hesse Kassel - "Postparto"

Well, then! If you needed a chill chaser for the Gláss I covered in the Q1 report, here it is. While “Postparto” sounds like TDK but Slint, La Brea soon blooms into something else, like the more post-rock inclined moments of Envy recast as, say, modern prog. (Bandcamp comments compare it to Black Country, New Road, and I’ll take your word for it. I’m never listening to that band because I value self-care.) I’ll warn you: It’s a long-ass album, but each turn is rewarding, and this Chilean band takes a lot of turns.

h/t Rennie & Lev

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Fifteen Interesting Metal Albums From Q1

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STERÖID - "Warzone in the City"

Egg punk…but it’s NWOBHM? OK! STERÖID is kind of like if Devo commandeered Tygers of Pan Tang. The most ridiculous aspect of the whole deal are the vocals, which are pitched to a helium high squeak, as if a mouse snuck into the studio and wanted to rawk. Here’s my suggestion: Spin Chainmail Commandos twice. You’re going to burn the first listen treading water in a sea of confusion. That second listen will allow you to marvel in just how wonderfully weird this is. If you want to give it a third, that’s when all of the earworms will infest your head.

h/t Ryan 🐸

Knub - "Bogus Remedy"

Nice little grungy noise rocker on the dependable TGIC. While its ‘90isms are more pronounced — guitar-wise, this could be Tad in spots, or, how about this for a comparison, Janitor Joe — Knub reminds me a bit of what labelmates Nerver are up to: big riffs, driving bass, and a generally pissedness.

猫 シ Corp. - "Stars Blinking (Pizza Hotline Remix)"

Sick. Pizza Hotline flips a spaced-out ambient track and routes it through the project’s “[v]ideo game flavoured electronic music, with extra cheese.” The result is something that falls between drum and bass and vaporwave, a fuzzily nostalgic sound…just with an absolutely deadly bassline. Pizza Hotline has been one of my favorite electronic projects of late, and they also have great taste as a DJ, demonstrating just how varied and vibrant this slice of chill electronica is becoming. I’ll stick one of the recent mixes below.

Stefan Wesołowski - "Core"

Stefan Wesołowski has quite the workload on Songs of the Night Mists: “violin, viola, cello, double bass, piano, synths (all tracks).” On “Core,” the mutli-instrumentalist weaves so many different threads within its five minutes. It has a Ben Frost-y droneness, “Pyramid Song” piano ominousness, and Oneohtrix Point Never-esque vocal synthness that sound like a ball pinging around a plinko board. Somewhere in the background brass synth patches burble and bleat. All of it creates this vertiginous depth, and if that’s one track, I can’t wait to hear the rest of the album.

Nuvolascura - "and in the end, you threw it all away"

Nuvolascura, up there with Quiet Fear as one of the best screamo bands in LA. A fleet, bite-sized banger of crashing Capsule riffs.

Negative Sun - "Forever Chemicals"

Shoutout to Japan Gigs for hipping me to this gem of unhinged aggression. Complete with a noise component, this is the kind of grinding powerviolence that’s able to stand alongside outfits like the great No Faith. It’s also, you know, deafening. I get the feeling that no one cared if this stuff was blowing past the redline while recording.

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MIX OF THE WEEK

As promised, here’s more Pizza Hotline.

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IF YOU MISSED IT

I was also interviewed for this fun piece on Meshuggah and working out. Worth a read!

https://www.invisibleoranges.com/meshuggah-workout/

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Check out Wolf's other garbage: https://linktr.ee/wrambatz