New August Memories Views Choices
New August memories, or should I say tunes ? Goodbye Ranger. Fixed View. Choice Is Yours. Please soldier on. It’s August. It’s my birthday month. If you want to do something special, read the blog, comment, like, share, ReTweet, subscribe to YouTube. Even better, the meatsheetfanzine webstore shows off the wares. A purchase is huge. Your reading, attention, and any support causes me to have the deepest of gratitude. To peruse and purchase tap or click https://meatsheetfanzine.com/shop-merchandise-meatsheet-merchandise/
Hardcore is alive and thriving. Check out Choice Is Yours and Fixed View. These two bands are really good and seriously make me feel inadequate in the sense, ” will I ever get caught up to speed on hardcore and the many other genres?” For the aggressive rambunctious types, hailing from Wuppertal, Germany, none other than Choice Is Yours. Equally impressive is Fixed View from Florida.
Secondly this batch of reviews is spotlighting a band Goodbye Ranger. Marvel at the sounds they make. Dream pop fans get your earphones ready for an immersive 27 minute trip.
Goodbye Ranger – Memories and the Sky – Sillas Famosas Records
Goodbye Ranger is a project featuring Andrew Saks formerly of FLDPLN and Sway. I will ask you look up Sway if you don’t know them. To read about FLDPLN I conveniently cover that here https://meatsheetfanzine.com/easy-song-soup/ Also in this band is Gwendolyn. When their voices combine you it is off into the ether .
Memories and the Sky or self title track begins this LP.
Breezy and floaty soundscapes that are easy to get lost in. A perfect tone setter.
Second is Fantasy Violence. A cool title. This one is just as dreamy. The difference is the opener soars and drifts along.
Whereas Fantasy Violence glides high but offers a grounding percussive clap like beat. You will be able to cross reference said beat if you ever listen to nearly almost any electronica or electronic adjacent music. Softly fading until there is nothing audible to be heard.
Next is Promises Promises. Not a cover of the 80’s band Naked Eyes. The percussion seems to be building in complexity as this plays. The overall tonality stays very dream like and relaxed though.
Male and female vocals dancing with an air of partially dark mystery.
For some reason this track reminds me a bit of the XX. The XX feature Romy and Oliver, two different sounding voices than Andrew and Gwendolyn, but instrumentally I hear a similar sound.
We Collide might have the dreamiest and sweetest singing on here. The harmony and other vocals create a most pleasant fore, middle, and background. In fact their vocals echo the band Low a bit on We Collide. I hear at least three tracks and or layers if you will.
Due to music and vocals playing together.. for fleeting moments I think of the Just For A Day LP from the mighty Slowdive. As far as how the music is complimenting the vocal layers. No badmouthing of JFAD is allowed on this blog. You will be ejected from the premises.
No One’s Listening is a stunning knockout of a song.
Flurries and rushes of reverberation wash over the vocals which become more like another instrument. One need not know the lyrics. But if you are like me, I like to read lyrics. On No One’s Listening though..it’s quite the ambient soundscape that makes it stand out. Additionally the placement too, fifth out of the seven. It may have the most white noise and or reverb than any other track. Probably tied for favorite. Time will tell.
Next Remember Everything brings you back into a less echoey arrangement but dreaminess doesn’t relent .
Instead Remember Everything borrows heavily from the 90’s shoegaze sound.
My mindset says this is not a bad thing. The underlying songwriting and dual vocals are strong enough to sound fresh.
Lastly , Arroyo Verde saunters in with some buzz , fuzz , and vocals that you may hear while in a medicated state ( again I say this is good) The feeling of the thinking brain turning off and allowing the subconscious to do its thing. The mix is similar to how My Bloody Valentine shimmers the tracks and makes them phase in and out.
Arroyo Verde is a mere 3:05 but it is perfect for an extensive drone club or dance mix in which this phasey shimmer gets loops. This feels like a radio edit. However, it still feels like a complete song. My meaty self just wonders what if it were slightly looped, longer, and stayed in this alternate shimmery soundscape. Overall Memories and the Sky should delight the dream pop fans. I’m not a fan of the term shoegaze but love the music and this LP is definitely one that I do not recommend sleeping on. Bravo.
Choice Is Yours – ’22 Demo
A raging ass kicker of a demo. Tightly played, well produced and for name your price on Bancamp. I suggest if you have the means shoot them a few dollars, Euros, or preferred currency. Go here to hear https://choiceisyours.bandcamp.com/album/demo-22?fbclid=IwAR0upC8XRW4OZmX1YWEjRFxnOxbrePXEn9paLh2uKZ4vRPsdsyOCFwO7bhw
First the opener is Exposed.
Galloping palm muted riffs, various tempos of mosh parts. Creepy crawl up to fast circle pit mosh.
The vocals are somewhat in the raspy, yet higher register that you hear in Floorpunch and / or SSD. A vigorous, just over 2 minute workout.
Second is Born In Segregation. Percussive guitar rhythms. Head bangable riffs. Whammy dive into speed and more aggression. If you like call and response vocals, you get more. Choice Is Yours packs several tempos and changes in this 3 minute song. It chugs slowly to a close with an ” Ugggggh” vocal you may hear in thrash death metal. Or does it? Keeping you on your toes, with a false ending it stops and the bass comes back in. I have to admit I thought it is the beginning of a new track. For as intense as it sounds , it is still fun to listen to.
Next, Overthinking barges in with bass guitar and then treble close behind. The stop and go give emphasis and contrast to the counter riff that goes from power chord to power chord all over the neck. You even get bass fills and a pweeeahh (pinch harmonic). Trust me, it’s fun.
Last song is Just Kind Not Weak. Choice Is Yours offers no quarter. This one is just as heavy and pummeling as the other three. There is a break down at the end that is the most thrash like than anything on this demo. It stands out to me. Late 80’s speed riffs and then finish. Short, but heavy, to the point. Just get it.
Fixed View – Losing Touch – K.O.T.P. Records
First off as far as ages go, I’m older than average people who listen to hardcore. However I can say this is just one of many bands that are coming on strong. Overall there is guttural borderline cookie monster metal vocals. Some exceptions to this singing though, and it is more growly than just straight death metal. I do appreciate the approach. Occasionally there is a call and response that is shouted out and higher so you get layers.
The treble end of things aka guitars is warm and heavy. I might say similar in the warmth of Death Threat ( Peace and Security) and maybe the first No Warning full length. Production makes the whole mix thick and chugging.
Tightness abounds, its just blows my mind how there is this and so much more to hear in hardcore.
So here we go.. First song Medicinal Poison storms on to the floor with thunder like toms and bass drums. Plenty of chances to mosh. Picking up change to just running around the pit. Perhaps a statement about the corrupt drug business? Uncertain but I’ll save that discussion for some other time. Onward.
Second self title Losing Touch is for the fans of the 90’s hardcore and material after that. It fuses metal and hardcore together much like mid 90’s bands. Rather than name a bunch listen here. https://kotprecords.bandcamp.com/album/losing-touch This track rages with some speed. Good to train to or skateboard to. Complete with a tortured, slow breakdown. You better be fuckin moshing.
Third is Unrepresented. Much like A Choice Is Yours, Fixed View knows when to use stop and go tactics. The guitars drop in and out. It gives quite the bounce, but super heavy.
Like throwing an anvil on a trampoline. Obviously one that could handle the weight. Due to this unsubtle heavy bounce, it my favorite of the four, but none of them are slouches.
Last track is Moving On. Do I hear some double bass? This is probably the most like 90’s ‘tough’ hardcore. Not quite Fury of V, 25 to Life all the way, but with similar sentiment and attitude you find in those bands or styles. If i am off the mark on this, believe me, I am trying.
It’s ominous and full of push / pull elements. The dynamic resonance of the drums. The way the guitar accents the the rhythms with small treble filled runs and phrases. The chugging riffs, duelling vocals. This demo is impressively done. I’m not really a fan of tougher sounding hardcore per se. There are always exceptions to be made. Breakdown’s Sick People is one. This demo is another.
Rural District – Run Away
Turning towards Japan, I set my earsand eyes on Rural District. Meatsheet writes about their song Ocean here. https://meatsheetfanzine.com/?s=Rural+District
But if you have not heard this band I may suggest you listen to their tracks here. https://ruraldistrict.bandcamp.com/music
In short this band plays shoegaze. No question. On the aforementioned song Ocean Rural District flirts and borrows from My Bloody Valentine. Heavy, hazy and full of effects. Run Away is still plenty shoegaze. On Run Away Rural District goes faster, more jangly. Run Away feels like a gazy pop song. For some reason it reminds a little of Velocity Girl’s or even Madder Rose’s faster songs. Of course Velocity Girl and Madder Rose are female fronted, but musically the way the guitars move through the mix called them to mind. So if you know those two bands well add big male vocals into the mix. These said vocals seem to inspire Eastern influence to them. The way the notes go higher, the band crescendos, and he goes higher still. But don’t quote me too hard on that because I am not an expert.
The opening guitar arpeggios are inqusitive, a bit higher in pitch. Then, they turn on the pop and it becomes dreamy but still hard driving. This drive is satisfying and I bet, fun for the band to play.
The part that crescendos features the cymbals and instruments sound like they are getting hit hard. Flurries of guitars, drums and metallic cymbal crashes. The vocals ascend during this time. Good bad or indifferent, it lends contrast to the song. Overall this song is percussive, more so than Ocean. The lead vocalist is not afraid to take a chance and stretch the vocal chords. I have to hand it Rural District on this one. It seems like as a band they are going for the jangle pop jugular, mixed with dynamics. Please do check it out and them I sent you.
Alright guys if you are in my hemisphere let’s hope the heat is almost over with. Let’s wish for the fall to bring release and prosperity to these fine artists. (and my endeavors too LOL) These are todays songs and tomorrows memories. Please make them count. With Gratitude – J