GOLDFISHIE, Only 10PM
Goldfishie’s third album explores nighttime spent alone but her impressive voice and the gorgeous melodies stand out right at the opening buzz. The lyrical content comes next owing to intriguing song titles such as the titular track. It’s a three-song effort and despite the over reliance on electronic pop, the artist quickly finds a signature sorrowful tone that’s emotionally satisfying pitched between sadness and delight in that sadness. There’s also the thrill in a dark song that involves an anonymous phone caller. Only 15-minutes long and you’re hooked to play the cool thing all over again.
OZZGA / POLAR LOWS, Ozzga / Polar Lows Split
Vintage shoegaze gets a multi-hued makeover that pays handsome dividends in this split release. Ozzga starts the proceedings with knotty almost sludgy sonic waves split in two sections by a minute of silence. In contrast, Polar Lows inject poppy hooks in the shoegaze-y haze. A female vocalist even softens the edge in the gloriously imploding chaos. There’s more gold to mine in the distortion pedal yet.
ROLO TOMASSI, Where Myth Becomes Memory
Brit prog-rock band Rolo Tomassi’s 2018 album “Time Will Die and Love Will Bury It” must be one of the loveliest album titles of the 2010s. Their latest “Where Myth Becomes Memory” may sound a bit more trad and fey in comparison. However, their latest release is much better album primarily because the UK five-piece have effortlessly refined their post-hardcore roots into one-part gentler, kinder songs and another part, harder, grungy anthems. You get the tinnitus-inducing “Choked” and “Almost Always” as well as the hopeful twinkle of “Closer” and “Drip.” It’s already being hailed in some circles as an emerging classic.
BLACK COUNTRY, NEW ROAD, Ants From Up There
With two previous albums delving into math rock and jazzy riffage, UK septet Black Country, New Road led the class of experimental rockers at the start of this decade. The release of their latest album “Ants From Up There” marks the departure of frontman Isaac Wood citing mental issues. Their new album also sees the band keeping their inventive inclination in check, giving vocalist Wood a wide berth instead to deliver what may as well be his valediction. He has transformed himself into a serious aching balladeer, singing about life and death, girls, the Atkins diet and pandemic-induced isolation. The rest of his crew colors his worldview with shifting shades of pop and rock. A new road opens up for these hardy sound explorers.
KORN, Requiem
Rap-core pioneers Korn unleashes their 14th album to the whoop and thunder of metal, with the sharp screeches of rap backbeat occasionally borrowed from the backburner. The result is a musical backdrop that turns to heavy just as quirkily as to melancholic across an album ominously titled Requiem. In an interview, Korn vocalist Jonathan Davis said he wanted to illustrate his own journey to manage violent tendencies. What Korn’s latest album shows is his constant struggle between peace and anxiety. In fact, Jonathan admits to being ‘the stranger’ for whom “hell sent its best to come for me (“Let The Devil Do The Rest”). Thirty years on, Korn still finds a fresh outlet to vent the frustrations of their younger selves.
VARIOUS ARTISTS, Know Your Enemy Vol. II
More than sixty bands and artists of the punk community around the country participated in this initiative to show continuing resistance to the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020. In one aspect, the compilation becomes a loud voice, actually a chorus of voices, against the intimidation tactic of the current administration. In another, the verbal clamor comes wrapped in fusillades of the angriest music made last year.
Bad Omen sings, “Isa-isang mga akusado na hinatulan ng dugo sa mga kamay mo” while Anti-Suck System rues, “Panginoon, ganid sa lupa/Panginoon, may bahid ng dugo.” Beast Jesus, Betrayed and Catpuke send out some of the most powerful music off their new album.
The foregoing music reviewed is available for listening and purchase at most digital music platforms, especially bandcamp.