Mix CD #52 - This One's Gonna Bruise

Hello! Here's the two score and twelfth blog for your perusal and entertainment. I've always tried to update around the 10th-15th of the month but Christmas and a load of time off in January have thrown all that right out. and I'm gradually trying to get back on track. Hopefully, I'll be able to knuckle down and get next months done a lot quicker!

I've still got an absolute ton of songs from 2019 that I haven't managed to get into the blog as yet but I'm struggling to find new songs from 2020 that I like enough. I dunno, maybe 2019 was just a really productive year for music and bands are just taking their time this year? That being said, all of the new songs on the blog this month are really good, at least I think so. Have a listen and that if you want, read what I writ too, ta!

Cheers,
Luke
x

Tracklisting
Beth Orton - This One's Gonna Bruise
Stonewall Noise Orchestra - On A Program
All My Friends Hate Me - Not In This Economy
PYRE - Smite With Hex
Mighty Bombs - With Your Eyes
Patty Gurdy - Slaughterhouse
Swollen Members - Fire
Ruby Fields - Climate
Chowder Boy - Rock Mullet
Thieves Of Liberty - Are You Ready?
Kkett - Death In The Disco Toilets
Elevators To The Grateful Sky - Song For July
Destroy Planets! - Absolution
Hayley Kiyoko - I Wish
Celldweller - New Elysium
Spermbirds - Let Me Think
Void Droid - Clockface
Patriots - Reckoning
Mariana Semkina - Turn Back Time
Dreadful - Upper-Class Supersucker
Black Water Birth - Dead Weight
Nø Handøuts - Old No Name (Live Demo)

If you actually want to listen to the songs then you can download them HERE


Beth Orton - This One's Gonna Bruise
Taken from the 2002 album Daybreaker

Beth reached the pinnacle of her success around the turn of the Millennium with singles like Stolen Car and She Cries Your Name but seemed to fade out of the spotlight somewhat after that, dunno why. I only have those first few albums and haven't anything after that, though she has been releasing albums. Her stuff is a mix of Lilith-fair type Folk Pop mixed with Trip Hoppish electronics though this track, one of my favourites, shies away from too much bleepery. 
It was co-written with her ex, the allegedly not nice person, Ryan Adams and is about someone taking a breakup badly and killing themselves. The song is from the viewpoint of the other person in the aftermath. It's a hoot.

Stonewall Noise Orchestra - On A Program
Taken from the 2016 album The Machine, The Devil & The Dope

Also known as, the much easier to type, SNO, this Swedish Stoner Metal band have released a few albums over the last 10 year or so and this song is taken from their most recent so it's high time they made another. On A Program starts slowly with for the first verse and has a trippy vibe to it. Once it gets going properly though it'sd a fantastic, catchy Rock song. There are some strong Monster Magnet vibes in there more me. The melody of the verse is what gives the song it's trippiness and I just really like the way it flows. there's a subtle little riff in the main chorus that I love too.

All My Friends Hate Me - Not In This Economy
Taken from the 2019 album Metal Butterflies

I discovered this band last year through the free music site Jamendo and their song, Not My Problem. I've only just last week realised they had an album out in December and it's well worth checking out, again it's available to download free on Jamendo. They mix up the energy and pace of Punk with the self pitying laziness of Indie Rock. Not In This Economy is one of the Punkier songs on it and is currently residing in my songs-I-don't-get-tired-of-listening-to file. It's a song about the state of the World at the moment, how we're all pretty much fucked and there's nothing we can do about it. There are some really well written lyrics throughout this blast of cheery Nihilism that are easy to miss."We can't save the world but at least we tried"

PYRE - Smite With Hex
Taken from the 2020 album Come Home

This trio (full name - People You Really Enjoy) from Florida bash out some fantastic, Prog-inflected, Punk-fueled Thrash Metal with all three of them handling the lead vocalising. Like all good Prog albums, Come Home is a concept album. However, like all good Thrash albums, it's less than 30 minutes long. The story of Come Home involves a man (Hero) and his dog (The Goodest Boy) embarking on a mighty quest from which they will not return. I am unsure as to where this song fits with the story but it's mint all the same.

Mighty Bombs - With Your Eyes
Taken from the 2019 album Begin Anywhere

Mighty Bombs are another trio, this time from Switzerland, and one that dabble in the murky world of Garage Punk. Their debut album is nonstop high energy, dayglo bounce and a whole lot of fun. Onne and Lucie's vocals are heavily accented but I think that just adds to the bands' charm. With Your Eyes is a particularly catchy track about the best way of believing something is actually seeing it and forcing someone stubborn to do that. It flies along at full tilt right up until the song finishes abruptly with an adorable laugh and sigh.

Patty Gurdy - Slaughterhouse
Taken from the 2019 album Pest & Power

Up until a couple of years ago, Patty was co-vocalist and hurdy gurdy player (hurdy gurdlist?) in the Pirate Metal band, Storm Seeker from Germany. Pest & Power is her debut solo album and, while it has a similar feel to Storm Seeker is much more Folk than Metal. It's quite a varied sounding album though, unsurprisingly, the hurdy gurdy is ever present. If you're not sure what that sounds like, it's kind of like a cross between a violin and bagpipes. Kind of.
Slaughterhouse is a haunting stomp about modern society being run by megacorporations and how important it is to play your role in making them money, fit into your little box and cause no complication.

Swollen Members - Fire
Taken from the 2011 album Dagger Mouth

Now here's a band to be careful Googling at work. Swollen Members are a Hip Hop group from Canada and one whose name I've seen around here and there but never really listened to, I came across this album looking for something else, gave it a listen and enjoyed it a lot. This song, in particular, stood out. They're based around band leader Madchild who raps in a voice reminiscent of MC Chris though without the massive nerd influence. The set up of Madchild, the deeper voiced Prevail and DJ /Producer Rob The Viking very much reminds me of early Cypress Hill too.
Fire is a chest-beating anthem, full of confidence and bravado that flows perfectly and features a few little cool nods and mentions to folk like Johnny Cash, Insane Clown Posse and R2D2. 
I also greatly enjoy the awesomely terrible punning in the lyric "I'm undefeated like a shoe store" 

Ruby Fields - Climate
Taken from the 2019 EP Permenant Hermit

Still talking about lyrics and, as opening ones go "Oi, pass us the bug spray would ya?" isn't one you see about every day. Climate is a cool Indie Rock track all about forgetting about worries and heading down the beach, camping out for the weekend and getting pissed with friends. Something I imagine is a lot easier and more enjoyable to do in Australia than it is in the North of England.
Permanent Hermit is Ruby's second EP so far and I've really liked everything I've heard so far. Hopefully, when a debut album emerges, it'll mean greater success outside of her native Australia.

Chowder Boy - Rock Mullet
Taken from the 2003 album The Soup Is Off!

At some point last year I bought a crate of undisclosed 'Alternative' CDs from someone on Facebook, about 50-60 albums and singles for a fiver. Admittedly, it does mean that I now own albums by Creed, Nickelback and Uncle Kracker but there was a ton of other cool stuff too, including a big pile of Ska Punk albums (Big D & The Kids Table, Out Of Order, Catch 22 and Potshot among others) including this charmingly slipshod, entertaining gem of an album.
There's not really that much to be found online about them other than they're from the County Durham area and a couple of the members went on to be in the Street Punk band, Gimp Fist.
Rock Mullet is a pretty self explanatory song about a haircut. One thing of note is that they pronounce it to rhyme, not with bullet but with creme brulé and that is also that way that I shall from hence this forth.

Thieves Of Liberty - Are You Ready?
Taken from the 2019 EP Yeah, You?

Thieves Of Liberty are a young Hard Rock band from Sunderland that are gradually making the move away from covers and making a proper name for themselves with a few high profile supports, festival appearances and general gigging in the North East and beyond. Not including a couple of standalone singles, Yeah, You? is their promising debut release, with the short, punchy Are You Ready? being the opening track. While the whole band are tight and play well, the obvious focal point of their music is Lidya's powerful vocals, especially when she lets rip towards the end of the song. Definitely a band to keep an eye on.

Kkett - Death In The Disco Toilets
Taken from the 2019 album Kketterwaul

This peculiar band with a peculiar name were brought into my radar via my good friend, Eddie from Attention Please. He often plays them on his show and listed Kketterwaul as his favourite album of 2019. There's a whole mish mash of styles and genres thrown into Kkett's pot and it all comes sputtering out in an exuberant ball of noisy fun that they've dubbed Joycore. There are echoes of the awkward stop startiness of early Biffy Clyro, the anarchic clatter of Bis and the brooding heaviness of Rolo Tomassi. All wrapped up in songs about giraffes and pasties.

Elevators To The Grateful Sky - Song For July
Taken from the 2019 album Nude

Another oddly titled band, this time it's Elevators To The Grateful Sky from Italy. They're a Stoner Rock band with a melodic Psychedelic, Proggy vibe, maybe a bit of early 70's Classic Rock in there too. Several members of the band contribute vocals, though it's not immediately noticeable. All three of their albums are really good and worth investigating if you're into Queens Of The Stone Age and that. Song For July is one of the standout tracks on their last album. Wafting along on a cool but subtle riff and a laid back vocal melody, it's a wistful tale of convalescence and recuperation.

Destroy Planets! - Absolution
Taken from the 2019 EP Mass X Gravity

Destroy Planets! are an Alternative Metal band from Manchester (UK) that take influence from a variety of sources. There's elements of Metalcore, Nu Metal, Djent, maybe some Industrial knocking about too, Their intention being to create something hard to pigeonhole but still relatively accessible. Frontwoman Tanya Wilson employs a variety of both harsh and clean vocals to good effect. Her ferocious roar is particularly impressive. Mass X Gravity is a quality EP and, hopefully, a full album isn't too far away.
Last year I won a signed copy of the EP, a tshirt and a beanie that you can see modeled beautifully by myself on Instagram HERE

Hayley Kiyoko - I Wish
Taken from the 2020 EP I'm Too Sensitive For This Shit

Mainstream, manufactured R&B/Pop, complete with digitally altered vocals isn't the usual fare of this blog but this is well-written mainstream, manufactured R&B/Pop, complete with digitally altered vocals with heart and personality. Also, this song is ridiculously catchy and I've hardly stopped mumbling it to myself since I first heard it. It's a tale of a relationship gone stale, a couple fallen out of love. The vocal effects of the chorus kind of make it feel like an almost jovial song which offsets the bitter verses. The whole EP is pretty decent and I'll be checking out her previous stuff. I wish more Pop music was like this.

Celldweller - New Elysium
Taken from the 2015 album End Of An Empire

Since the dissolution of the Industrial band Circle Of Dust, Klayton has been involved with a number of projects like Argyle Park, Scandroid and, most prominently, Celldweller. Still operating in the vague Industrial fields but with a bit more variety and experimentation, Celldweller's albums are all a little different to the others while still being recognisably Klayton. New Elysium is a sprawling epic that relies more on the thumping elecetronic side of his music, though there's still some chugging guitars in there somewhere too. It's about an underrepresented youth fighting to create a decent future for themselves and toppling an oppressive Government. I'm sure it's wholly fictional and not a comment on current events or anything.

Spermbirds - Let Me Think
Taken from the 2010 album A Columbus Feeling

This German band have been knocking around since the early '80s though I've only fairly recently come across them (pun intended). They last released an album ten years ago but a new one, Go To Hell Then Turn Left, is due at some point this year which is good news
Let Me Think is an ace Skatepunk track with a stomping, anthemic cry of "Don't know, Don't care, what your opinion is" in the chorus. American vocalist, Lee Hollis, sounds dead like Jello Biafra at his vitriolic best and that opening riff is simple but mint. I love this song and can't wait for that new album.

Void Droid - Clockface
Taken from the 2020 album Bipolar

I seem to have been on a massive Stoner kick for months now and it shows no sign of abating. In my search for new bands I discovered that there's a constantly growing Stoner scene in Greece, with some great bands emerging from it. Void Droid is one such band and have just released their second album and I'll be very surprised if it doesn't end of up on my AOTY list come December. 
Clockface is an album highlight, beginning and ending with a ticking clock, it starts softly and ominously before exploding into a crunching march. The whole song has a regimented, mechanical feel to it that fits with the clock theme, there are some cool vocal harmonies and an odd falsetto choir towards the end of it that continue that ominousness I mentioned previously. It's a pretty weird song but I can't get enough of it at the moment.

Patriots - Reckoning
Taken from the 2020 album Separation

With a name like Patriots, you'd maybe expect them to be an intimidating, shaven-headed Hardcore band from Boston, Massachusetts. In actual fact, they're a Melodic Metalcore/Post-Hardcore, with all of their own hair, band from Shah Alam in Malaysia. Separation is their accomplished debut album, the songs are polished, well performed and perfectly combine melody and punchy riffs. They're also surprisingly keyboard-heavy for this style of music and it works really well. Vocalist, Ayeen switches from strong clean vocals and typical Metalcore screams fluidly. He also flits between singing in English and Malay which is pretty cool and gives them even more of their own identity. 

Mariana Semkina - Turn Back Time
Taken from the 2020 album  Sleepwalking

Marjana Semkina is one of half of the Russian, Progressive Rock/Chamber Pop/Folk duo imathemorning and Sleepwalking is her debut solo album, released under a slightly different spelling of her name for some reason. Musically, it's not too dissimilar to her (former/current) day job, the songs are haunting, beautiful and atmospheric pieces of work. Turn Back Time being one of the more upbeat songs on the album but it's still a pretty miserable lament of regret and remorse however. Focused around lush orchestral sections and Marjana's surprisingly understated vocals but underpinned by the solid rhythm section that add a little drive and lift the song up some. I can see why it was picked as a single from the album.

Dreadful - Upper-Class Supersucker
Taken from the 2019 album A Damn Good Ride

Dreadful is either an unwise or very brave choice of band name, which category this Swiss five-piece fall into, I'll leave up to you but personally, I thought A Damn Good Ride was a pretty decent Hard Rock album with plenty of good songs. One of which was this profanity-laden dedication to the arrogant rich. It's full the Southern groove of The Black Crowes, Status Quo's 3 chord boogie and maybe some of, yes, The Supersuckers' Country Punk attitude. The chorus is particularly good and catchy enough to have me singing "Fuck you, fuck them" at inappropriate times.

Black Water Birth - Dead Weight
Taken from the 2019 album East County Grime

And now, may I present to you a thoughtful musical composition performed by five nice gentlemen from California, who go by the collective nom de plume, Black Water Birth.
Dead Weight is a furious burst of Grindcore, Crust Punk and Death Metal all chewed up and spat out as an unsavoury ball of hate and vitriol. The whole album is an intense listen with the pace of the first two genres and the dark imagery and heaviness of the latter
Why I picked Dead Weight over the fifteen other tracks on East County Grime though is the really cool guitar trill thing that pops up in the 'chorus'. Black Water Birth probably aren't for everyone but if you're in the mood for repeatedly punching the wall then I've got the soundtrack for you! 
Both this album and their debut, Soothing Sounds Of Annhililation, are currently Name Your Price on the band's Bandcamp. 

Nø Handøuts - Old No Name (Live Demo)
Taken from their Bandcamp

Nø Handøuts are a modern Pop Punk band from Orlando, Florida and describe themselves as multiracial, multigender and LGBT+. They've been knocking about on my Instagram for a while now. they seemed interesting and I've been patiently waiting to hear some music to see what they're actually like. There's still nothing proper but they have released a couple of demos on their Bandcamp and, thankfully, they're both pretty good. Obviously, they sound as rough as a badger's arse but the songs shine through and I'm hoping the Nervous Laughter EP they mention turns up soon. I doubt I'll get the opportunity to see them any time soon but they seem like they're great live.

Despite the title, Old No Name is kind of the theme tune of the band with the chorus of "Work hard to play hard, we take no handouts" but it's also a diatribe railing against Karens and Boomers being quick to judge Millennials when it's maybe their generations' fault kids can't afford mortgages etc these days. Everyone has their faults and most of us are just trying to make it through life, less of the finger pointing eh?