I’ll eschew whatever the fuck I normally do here to make some announcements. I’m going to be on vacation from work the next two weeks to do shit around the house, so I’m going to put this column on pause until July 3rd. We’ll be playing some catch up for the next few columns after that. Hopefully shit will be loaded because as you may have noticed, well, let’s get to the second announcement.
As we get into summer, that’s always the slower period of the year for music. Great music still comes out every week, as you can see by my dope-ass recs below. But you may have also notice that we’ve been getting fewer of those sweet recs in these articles lately, haven’t we? That’s because I’m not going to lower my standards for what I recommend just to recommend more stuff.
However, I am certain there’s plenty of Cool Stuff out there from labels and bands I’ve never heard of. I’m saying this at the top right now because this is the perfect time of year for it. If you are a lesser known label or band, email me at pizzafriendsrc at gmail.com and send me your new music and/or info so I know you exist (or if you are friends with a label/band, let them know).
Will you make this column? I dunno. Most bands aren’t that good. That’s not a huge insult. I make music, and it’s fucking unlistenable. All of it. There’s nothing wrong with making music that isn’t amazing. But I use this column to highlight bands and artists I really, really believe in. Let’s find out if that’s you.
Whippets got Coolest Album of the Week, so you know they’re definitely making that good, good shit. Other finalists included Perennial and CROSS DOG.
But hey, how about you check out all of…
The Coolest Stuff of The Week | June 12th
TERRY GREEN – Provisional Living
Genres: Math rock, screamo, punk
Hazel Briar – The Night Before
Genres: Alternative, indie folk, minimalist
Giraffe – ATOMS
Genres: Experimental, ambient, jazz
Acid Gras – La Revanche du CD1
Genres: Punk, garage rock, rock
MSGG – Live from the kitchen table
Genres: Experimental, abstract, sound-art
Snooper/Prison Affair – Split
Genres: Egg punk, punk, post-punk
John Atkinson & Peter Wolfgang – Spiritus Contra Spiritum
Genres: Experimental, classical, field recordings
Perennial – Art History
Genres: Post-hardcore, experimental, art-punk
Pedro the Lion – Santa Cruz
Genres: Indie rock, rock, folk
(is) – Even These Heights Concealed
Genres: Experimental, abstract, techno-organic
CROSS DOG – All Hard Feelings
Genres: Punk, noise rock,. hardcore punk
tablebooze – BLBP.4
Genres: Instrumentals, hip-hop, beats
Goat Girl – Below The Waste
Genres: Alternative, rock, noise rock
Chano a Secas – MMXXIV
Genres: Emo, punk, post-hardcore
Candy – It’s Inside You
Genres: Punk, hardcore punk, metal
Whippets – S/T
Genres: Post-punk, grunge, punk, noise rock
Whippets are fun except, holy shit, no they aren’t. That’s extra true of the band of the same name… and the drug (I’m told — that one, I haven’t tried). On the surface, we have a fun, hooky, noisy brand of gloomy punk rock that’s constructed so perfectly that could be enough. Each song pulsates with an energy that could carry us like a pitch-black wave through the entire album.
The experience is so overwhelmingly energetic that it’s easy to overlook that it’s also very bleak.
Bobby Hussy’s existentially crippling lyrics both betray and play perfectly into the horror funhouse punk of Whippets as a whole. Finding cosmic terror in everyday life, Hussy paints a picture of a world where the horror is all around us. We are our own horrors. We are each other’s horrors.
Yet, as with as catchy as each song is, this would almost be totally tongue-in-cheek if it weren’t also so smartly written and cutting and pained.
But that’s the other half of it. Whippets can get abrasive for sure, but these songs are really catchy. The level of catchy that randomly got Modest Mouse a radio hit with Float On because sometimes that just happens with weird, bleak bands who also write hooky tunes.
Tyler Spatz’s bass has an awful lot to do with this, carrying us along each song with constantly bubbling bass lines. Those bassy pops burrow into the brain, especially on repeated listens. Everything felt like it was floating on the back of Spatz’s bass, rolling along its swells.
Just as expressive as his vocals is Hussy’s guitar work. Sometimes, he’ll admit blasts of noise and sometimes he’ll go into a mad solo before retreating into a simple chord progression that lets Splatz shine for awhile before a wild riff comes bursting through.
This interplay between bass and guitar, where they each give each other room to breathe, is a great example of being good bandmates but also good songwriters.
The courtesy is also extended to drummer Hart Miller, where both guitar and bass will drop out completely at moments to give Miller a moment to fill in with something crazy. But it probably isn’t needed because he finds pockets for fills in the smallest places, giving every track a sense of pace that is unbelievable over the course of the album. Tracks speed up and slow down with Miller holding everything together in what are some of my favorite punk drums of the year.
Like if you nudged Quasi toward noise rock, Whippets are a lot of fun as long as you don’t listen too closely to the lyrics. Then, if you’re anything like me, fuck it, they’re actually more fun.
Before I go, girl, one thing:
If you enjoyed Cool Stuff, please check out previous installments here.