Bandcamp Picks - 2017 Stocking Stuffer Edition

[All releases were listed as free or "name your price" downloads at the time of writing. That can change, so it's best to download these ASAP.]

Mixtape 40 - Rosetta

Here is the 40th installment of the Dreams of Consciousness podcast, featuring an interview with Matthew Weed and Eric Jernigan of Rosetta. Enjoy.

Bandcamp Picks - Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Rosetta, Chelsea Wolfe, Ocean Forest

In this age of Trumpism and alt right trolls, we should be doubly thankful for the return of anarchist collective Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Though rooted in the atmospheric quasi-orchestral sound they pioneered, Luciferian Towers sees the band embracing the power of the riff, resulting in what may be the heaviest album of their career. [$9]

Philadelphia's Rosetta have been shaking lose their hardcore roots to arrive at more cerebral destinations. On Utopioid, the band crafts a concept album in movements, using their cascading guitar lines to flesh out a narco-somatic world of disappointment. The album is available as a name your price download.



Though ostensibly an indie artist, what Chelsea Wolfe does is as dark as anything you'd find with the suffix "metal" attached to it. Her latest album Hiss Spun isn't wanting for crushing riffs and pounding drums, though she's capable of being just as chilling with only her voice and an acoustic guitar on songs like "Two Spirit". [$8.99]



Ocean Forest probably remember the Eighties fondly. On their laconic debut, the South Carolina trio have a shoegazing, surf rock-tinged take on early post punk, delivering 9 songs of the New Wave that could have been - poppy, unvarnished, and haunting. [$5.95]

Bandcamp Picks: Jesu, A Storm of Light, Rosetta, Across Tundras

Justin Broadrick sure is busy this year...not only has he aired the first new Godflesh recording in over a decade, embarking on his first US tour with them since the 90's, but there's a new Jesu EP out this month as well. Everyday I Get Closer To The Light From Which I Came is classic Jesu, bleak yet uplifting, trudging towards oblivion with a slight smile on its face. Gaze at your shoes for forty minutes and contemplate the inevitable. The 5 song EP is available as a digital download for $8, and comes with an additional 4 songs recorded live in Belgium earlier this year.



A Storm of Light's connection to Neurosis is well established and while comparisons are unavoidable, Nations to Flames shows that Josh Graham is capable of carving out a musical identity of his very own. This is the heaviest and most aggressive album that ASOL has released yet. If the idea of Soundgarden jamming with Neurosis sounds good to you, then revel in Kim Thayil's presence as a collaborator on some songs. Not sure which ones; also not sure why only 3 tracks are available on ASOL's Bandcamp page, but all 11 songs are streaming here courtesy of Noisecreep. The album is available as a digital download for $7.99.



I've had a soft spot for Rosetta ever since I saw them open for Kylesa during a snowstorm back in 2011. The Anaesthete, the band's first self-released album (and fourth overall, apparently) expands on their hypnotic, post-rock influenced doomcore with a bushido inspired theme and some quiet parts that remind me a lot of Australians (and DoC faves) Nuclear Summer. Cerebral and enveloping, if slightly too long for its own good. The album is available as a "name your price" download.



Like a less droning version of Earth, Tennessee's Across Tundras inject a great deal of southern twang into their slow and heavy atmospherics. Electric Relics finds the band at the crossroads of psychedelic doom and dark country - possibly the same black crossroads that Robert Johnson was made an offer he couldn't refuse. Across Tundras make a similar offer: the album is available as a "name your price" download.

Kylesa, Rosetta, Fight Amp @ Santos - 1.26.2011

Boy was this a night to be a balding pearshaped metalhead in your thirties. Especially if you have a propensity for beards and horned rimmed glasses. You know what I'm talking about: HIPSTER METAL. The term actually makes me kind of sick, even if I do listen to a lot of those bands. Therefore, I suggest a new term for Baroness, Kylesa, and the like: The New Wave of Heavy Indie Rock. See? No more accusations of who's "troo" and who's not. Besides, the sensibilities of the bands in the "hipster metal" oeuvre match up better with 90's post-punk and alt rock bands than any period of metal, except maybe the 70's (and let's face it, punks and indie kids were always more partial to Motorhead and Sabbath than the likes of Cannibal Corpse and Morbid Angel).


I got in late, so I only caught the very end of the opening band, NJ's East of the Wall. A brief Youtube search shows that all I missed was more shoegaze/doom rock hybridization. Meh. I still have 3 Baroness albums that I keep promising myself I'll listen to, so East of the Wall will have to wait.


If I had to describe Fight Amp in one word, the word I'd use is "Unsane". And you should too, as the influence is fairly obvious. Of course, I have no problems with this as Unsane are one of the most under-appreciated bands in heavy music. Fight Amp are largely lacking Unsane's sheer abrasiveness, but successfully channel their rhythmic sensibilities. Hell, if even Entombed wanted to be Unsane for an album, who can blame these guys?


Rosetta were a revelation to me. Though I'm mostly bored with this type of earth shaking post-metal, Rosetta remind me of the best band in the style whose name doesn't end with "sis": Sweden's mighty Cult of Luna. Like Cult of Luna, Rosetta put their effects racks and echo pedals to maximum hypnotic evil use, before bringing the hammer down with huge waves of crushing sound. Though I couldn't hear a thing the vocalist was doing, his enthusiasm was laudable, and possibly the most thrilling performance of the night. Definitely a band I want to hear more of.


Credit to Kylesa for nearly filling up Santos Party House on the night of the much talked about "Thundersnow." I guess their music really strikes a chord with people. On their most recent album, they've taken their indie influence farther than they have before - some songs sound like Igor Cavalera jamming with My Bloody Valentine. Why they need two drummers to achieve this is beyond me, but the parts where all the band members started banging on drums made me wonder whether Sepultura are getting the appropriate royalties.

There were moments during Kylesa's set when I wondered how much of their appeal to the indie crowd was nostalgia for the days of Alt Rock past. As far as female singers go, Laura Pleasants certainly seems more Courtney Love than Angela Gossow, and the direction they've taken on Spiral Shadows is overly reminiscent of the fuzzed out sound of Seattle. Which leads me to believe that Kylesa (and indeed, most "hipster"/"post" metal bands) really belong more with indie rock than metal. Certainly at no point in their set do they reach the apocalyptic heaviness of Neurosis, or the sheer caveman barbarity of High on Fire or early Mastodon. Not that they're any worse for it; after years of metal bands watering down their severity to appeal to other audiences, it is nice to hear a band err on the side of heaviness even if their interests may lie elsewhere.