What a bittersweet week this was, huh? Shellac’s new album dropped, and if you’re anything like me, you were looking forward to that fucker for awhile now. And it only made me sadder that this is probably their most complete album front to back. There’s no other way to say this — it fucking sucks that Steve Albini wasn’t alive to see its release and know how much people loved something this band put so much work into. But at least he got to finish the vision with his boys, and what a way to go out.
It should be no surprise that Shellac’s To All Trains was one of the finalists for Coolest Album of The Week. It should also be no surprise that it didn’t win because, I assume, you’re able to read the goddamn title of this article (Kulk won). We had a bunch of awesome finalists, though. Almanac Man’s odd-time signatured brand of noise rock is chaotic, strange fun in Terrain. If you want something more subdued but catchy (and still upbeat and punchy, don’t get me wrong) and otherworldly, Apples with Moya’s A Heave of Lightness On The Ground might be for you. The cinematic but punishing post-metal of Autolith’s Artificial Heaven was the closest to upending the eventual winners, so definitely check that out.
And as always, check out all these recommendations because there’s a reason it’s…
The Coolest Stuff of The Week | May 22nd
Candy Apple – Comatose
Genres: Hardcore punk, noise rock, punk
Death Aria – As If An Arrow Pierced The Flesh
Genres: Electronic, experimental, avant-garde
Zero Point Energy – Tilted Planet
Genres: Rock, indie rock, alternative
Almanac Man – Terrain
Genres: Noise rock, math rock, post punk
Jack Name – Fabulous Soundtracks
Genres: Post-punk, psychedelic, experimental
Bootlicker – 1000 Yd. Stare
Genres: Hardcore punk, punk
floral print – floral print’s guide to practical living and magical thinking
Genres: Indie rock, indie pop, alternative
Will Hofbauer – Dingers
Genres: Dub, kraut, bass
DENISOVA – Holocen
Genres: Math rock, noise pop, indie rock
Autolith – Artificial Heaven
Genres: Post metal, sludge, post-rock
The Eyeballs – I can’t believe my!
Genres: Punk, indie rock, garage rock
lightheaded – Combustible Gems
Genres: Alternative, jangle pop, power pop
Apples with Moya – A Heave of Lightness on the Ground
Genres: Indie rock, alternative, indie pop
Earth Ball – It’s Yours
Genres: Noise rock, experimental, avant-garde
Eyecandy – You Can See Me From The Mountain
Genres: Post-punk, post-hardcore, emo
Magic Fig – S/T
Genres: Rock, psychedelic, progressive
Billo – Young Team
Genres: Post-punk, egg punk, experimental
Bermuda Squares – Outsider
Genres: Punk, post-punk, indie rock
Taylor Deupree – Sti.ll
Genres: Minimal, experimental, ambient
Shellac – To All Trains
Genres: Noise rock, punk, post-punk
Kulk – It Gets Worse
Genres: Noise rock, post-metal, alternative
Perhaps this is no surprise given the title, but It Gets Worse is about as oppressive as an album can get. From the opening moments of building noise to the waning static, this is the sound of being existentially squished under the thumb of some great unseen monster. Sometimes it’s abrasive and sometimes it’s even beautiful, but it’s always pummeling and oppressive.
Vocalist and guitarist Thom Longdin sneers down at us. His effect-soaked vocals don’t mask or hide his voice but enhance the persistent sense of doom like he’s the Lovecraftian God of old. He speaks the words of doom and time. These eternal words, we must listen.
From depths of the universe previously unimagined come the drumming of Jade Ashleigh Squires, who brings to mind the Mountains of Madness themselves.
So thunderous are Squires’ beats that one has to wonder if these are the cause of the oppression — the Lovecraftian God Itself — or if she has merely summoned and controlled It. IE – my question here is a question of cause and effect. The cosmic nature of these drums make me wonder if the drums are the God themselves, and the voice is but a tool of the Drum God or if the drums summon and control the God. Their steady, deep beats wedge into your brain only to have your brain pulled out again with the sprinkling of high-hats and cymbal crashes coming from starlight.
Obviously, the drums are the grounding force in Kulk and many bands. I just said how steady Squires’ beats were, right? But in horror, there’s a darker side to steadiness as well. Drums of insanity. The beating of The Telltale Heart. Even the steady pace of the monster in It Follows. And for as much as these drums form the backbone of Kulk, that backbone is doom and dread. The drums never let the doom die away. They never let you forget the dread. It fucking rules.
Tying all this together is slabs of existential noise courtesy of Longdin’s apocalyptical guitar.
Thick with feedback and effects and stabbing, churning filth, this is the sound blasting out at you. It sounds like living pain and otherworldliness and all the feelings of the oppressed themselves. If Longdin’s vocals and Squires’ drums are the God, the guitar is all those beings living out the barely decipherable lyrics lurking underneath. It goes beyond mere riffs and chords and into performance art.
Then, beyond all the noise and horror and dread and oppression, Kulk also give us these abstract, quieter moments that are simply beautiful and show off their skill and breadth as musicians.
Okay, maybe even those moments are still filled with dread and oppression (and tension), but for an album that rushes by in under 25 minutes, I am stunned they are able to show at least part of their range. I won’t call it their full range because, let’s be real, these two have a lot more in them. I can’t wait to listen to the insane pathways they lead us down next, but for now, let’s enjoy what is most certainly the Coolest Album of The Week.
