Welcome to another installment of Play It By Ear. It’s an unusual night here in Tucson. It’s cold and raining in May. I’m rejoicing that I get to have one final night of moody music listening. I’m currently cozied up in my room, window cracked open listening to Shizuka’s III - an album I haven’t revisited in years since I first featured it on the New Music Drops series. I’m hoping that sinking into this album and into this blog will relieve me of some uneasiness. It’s been a heavy couple of months.

I’ve had so many drafts of this blog. My goal when I last published in October was to make this a monthly segment. Something I didn’t have to delve too deep on, a lighthearted way to share anecdotes and music, a way to feel creatively fulfilled and connected to others. Granted, I did finish publishing the T&E zine since then so I guess I should celebrate that big accomplishment rather than dwell on neglecting my personal blogs. But I also feel like the weight of the world on top of the constant fatigue of my ever-worsening endometriosis has made it extremely difficult to get things done. 

It’s not for a lack of inspiration. I have endless notes scattered everywhere of ideas, but everything exists in a forever “draft mode”. I see how many unfinished ideas I have and it honestly feels heartbreaking. I look at these drafts as a reminder of my physical and mental inability to see my visions through. I feel a constant urge to be creative, but it’s hard to fulfill a desire to create in a world full of destruction. It feels hard to reckon with the privilege of having time to write and have fun knowing that my family is living through war. It’s also difficult to navigate these emotions while my endo medication is wreaking havoc on my physical and mental wellbeing. It’s a lot.

But I’m hoping to turn things around. I’m hoping listening to this beautiful music will allow me to feel some mental and physical harmony. I’m hoping that writing will fuel my sense of purpose, to transform my anxious energy into something more meaningful. I’m hoping that blogging out to the netherworlds of the internet - whether or not anyone even reads this - will make me feel more connected to others and the world around me. I’m hoping that wherever you are, you are also doing okay given these very tumultuous times. And I’m hoping that whatever you’re feeling these days, you have the soundtrack to empower you through it.

This blog covers moody techno, hard hittin’ blues, goofy public access performances, plus some new and returning mini-segments: 

Thanks for reading, love you all.
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P.S. - Here is a scan of a little zine I made about endometriosis. It’s my first perzine, it felt very cathartic to just jot down random thoughts on pain, bleeding, and of course, relating it to music. I didn’t make it super in-depth, instead I just let myself have fun with the crafting process and wanted to make a zine that was completely handmade. The materials I used include ink stamps, postage stamps, stickers, a label maker, receipt paper photography…really pulling out all my favorite things from the craft drawer.

The simple kick drum is the heartbeat of the song. It starts as a simple thump, a slowness mirrored perhaps by the soft beat of a broken heart. The tempo anxiously builds and builds, the thumping of the drum kicking up as Abner begs for someone to love him. And I think what makes this song the most crushing of all is that the tempo doesn’t end on a big climax. Our ears, at least in Western culture, are accustomed to hear a structure like this and anticipate a sort of sonic resolution of sorts, like we’ve broken through the moment this song has been building up towards. We get swept up in the heart wrenching emotion of his voice, the restless and driving spirit of the melody, but it just…sustains there a bit toward the end, right? It kind of reminds me of a Shepard tone in a strange way. Like…the tempo keeps building and he starts wailing “hey”, but there’s some anxiousness in that not just exploding into a cacophony. It gets faster and faster, until he just breaks down in sad laughter, and then sinks right back into the somber, slow tempo where it all started as he says:

Oh, looking back over my life
Oh, Lord, I'm so depressed
Help me, somebody, I need some rest
Oh, Lord, I'm so depressed

I wish I had a better way of explaining what I mean, and perhaps some music critic would disagree and say that I’m interpreting the tempo all wrong. But hey man, I just think the song rules, lay off me! 

Going back to that Peanuts comic, what makes this song so relistenable for me is the anthemic quality. There are other sad songs, say from the likes of Daniel Johnston or whomever, that I could only listen to so many times before I just shrivel up into a little raisin and fall between the cracks of the couch (which too has its time and place), but the spirit of this posthumously released song just feels big and different. I leave feeling empowered in my sadness. It’s a beautiful, tragic and complicated thing Abner Jay was able to pull off in his songwriting. I also appreciate the unique quality of this being performed as a one-man band, makes the story feel more all-encompassing in that way. 

Fun fact: I’ve also heard that Abner Jay used to frequent the swap meet in Tucson. I have yet to ever find proof of this, but no harm in believing he has strong roots here in my desert home.

*While I’m on the subject, here’s one more that makes me think of the comic: “All My Happiness is Gone” - Purple Mountains. Another rhythmically upbeat sad song, hurts in all the right places, makes you sing your heart out while violently sobbing.  One of the most cathartic and crushing and beautiful sad songs out there. RIP David Berman, you were one of the best to do it.
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​To shift the mood of this blog, now I want to talk about something that brings me  unsurmountable joy…public access television! I used to love watching all the oddball talent (or lack thereof) grace my tv screen as a kid, and now finding old VHS recordings online are a source of pure nostalgic joy. One of my favorite finds as of late is this recording that was featured on the Found Footage Festival’s weekly YouTube show called VCR Party Live. They had a guest who runs this channel, feed your vcr, who uploaded an episode of a show called 28 Minutes:
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​Then it’s the glorious printing stage!! I print everything on a risograph, and it’s the definition of a trial and error process. The machines at The Binsley have made over a million prints, and I am by no means a technician of these crazy contraptions. So it becomes a lesson making do with your abilities, and embracing it rather than fighting it. I printed over the course of two days, about 12 hours worth of printing. I had called in my boyfriend on the second day because I really needed some extra hands (the machines kept breaking down on me and I was getting cranky lol), and with his help and Jeik from the Binsley, it got done!
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The zine would not be possible without The Binsley owners Jeik and Amanda. I am so grateful for them letting me use their risos, and for the opportunity to say that this zine was done 100% by hand, totally DIY from start to finish. Also very grateful to my friends Dani and Wilson for helping me fold and staple the issue.

I hope you all have been enjoying this issue, and if you don’t have your mitts on one yet, please reach out via the Contact Form to have one mailed to you!

What crafts or art projects have you been working on lately? Are there any songs that reflect the process?
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​I’ve been really delving back into art house films after a good couple years of watching nothing but B-movies. This segment is to document and share some of the Criterion films I’ve been enjoying, along with standout soundtrack moments.

A couple months ago, I watched the film Beau Travail by acclaimed French director Claire Denis. This movie is considered the best French film, and one of the greatest films of all time. It centers around French Foreign Legion soldiers training in the desert of Djibouti, and is largely free of any dialogue. I have to say, I didn’t enjoy it at first, especially given the massive hype. But it’s one of those movies that hasn’t left my mind since, which I think is the sign of something truly remarkable. (Side rant: Remember before the streaming days when you didn’t really like what you were watching, but you kept watching 'til the end anyway because you had already put in the effort to rent or buy it? And then by the end it either won you over, or you were able to develop a formulated opinion on why you didn’t like it, which arguably is just as important in understanding why you do like something? Or like in this case, you realize that maybe you just have to sit with it for a while and you’re glad you stuck it through because otherwise you would’ve missed out on something beautiful?)

The movie is full of beautiful choreography that all serves the purpose of both appreciating and criticizing masculinity. In one of the montages, it drifts into a sequence of the soldiers marching in the desert as the song “Safeway Cart” by Neil Young plays.
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I’d never heard this Neil song before, it feels so unexpected, perhaps because I’ve never dug into the ‘90s Neil catalog. The attitude and melancholic feel of this sound is so outstanding. A perfect song to march driftlessly through the desert to, per the scene above. It made me think about what other songs I’ve skipped over in my life because it wasn’t from an artist’s peak career years. 
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I understand the sentiment of this fortune, but why does it come off so snarky? I love that it is a lil bit pretentious in its tone. 
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I’m gonna have to go with “The High Road” - Broken Bells. It’s funny I pulled this fortune because they were actually on my mind last month for the first time in forever. I always kinda wrote them off because I thought the singer was just copying The Shin’s steez…until I realized that Broken Bells is fronted by James Mercer, aaaaaayyyyyy lmao that’s craaaaazy. 

Anyway - still a great song 16 years later, although I feel like it doesn't really touch on the underlying sassy tone of the fortune. I wish I could think of a song that has lyrics along the lines of "everyone is stupid except me"...but alas, it's the finale of the blog and I've run out of brain juice.

What song would you pair this fortune with? Can you think of times you had to take the high road, even when you didn't want to?
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Ak’chamel, The Giver of Illness - Spiritually Unemployed
Genre: Psychedelic, experimental
Been so eagerly awaiting a new release from this freaky ass ensemble of psychedelic folk musicians, and this album does not disappoint. A bizarre clashing of global instrumentation, ritualism, distortion, lo-fidelity, and improvisational chaos. Broken ouds and hurdy-gurdies and self-made instruments were recorded on vintage cassette decks and reel-to-reel units powered through dying generators that randomly dropped voltage and dropouts and speed fluctuations, giving it this weird and haunted quality. For fans of Sun City Girls, Amon Düül

Ohkami No Jikan - Black Tape II
Genre: Psychedelic rock
A reissue of a rare demo tape from the 1990’s Tokyo underground scene. Heavy, early-Sabbath drone type worship that morphs into shredding psychedelic jams. For fans of Kikagaku Moyo but it’s more fuzzed out, noisy, raw and heavy 
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Maria BC - Marathon
Genre: Ambient folk
Beautiful and dreary singer-songwriter music from San Francisco, for fans of similarly experimental and dark folk sounds a la Chelsea Wolfe, Emma Ruth Rundle, and Midwife. 
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Radwan Ghazi Moumneh & Frédéric D. Oberland - Eternal Life No End
Genre: Experimental
A two-year process collaboration between Jerusalem In My Heart’s Radwan Ghazi Moumneh and multi-instrumentalist Frédéric D. Oberland that serves as a proclamation of transfigured reality and the injustices of the SWANA regions. Hypnotic, trance-inducing percussive melodies, heavily synthesized overdubs, modified electric rababas, and other experimental instrumental transformations carry the backbone, while Radwan’s voice and Arabic poetry pull together the emotional weight of it all 
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Mandy, Indiana - URGH
Genre: Industrial
Mandy, Indiana has been one of my favorite contemporary bands from the past decade, and this album reminds me exactly why that is. It pleases me to no end that as they gain more and more popular attention, they manage to get even more experimental and noisy. I don’t have the know-how to summarize this album in a little blurb (there are endless in-depth reviews of this album online), but alls I really gotta say is this is an album of the year contender and anyone who likes aggressive, industrial, experimental and noisy electronic music will love this 
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Simon Berz - Tectonic
Genre: Avant garde
German experimental, ambient and club music through a geological lens. Berz composes music with drumkits and electronics, but also made his own instrument called the “Lithophon” where stones are turned into amplified sound through water drops and the “Tectonic” where he sources sound waves through a set of Icelandic basalt stones with electronic manipulation. The natural samples almost feel tangible. A fun release, definitely not as stern as the description would lead you to believe 
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Matryoshka - Blasé Saint 
Genre: Dub-techno, ambient
It’s that moody, ethereal UK ambient club music that sounds like walking out of the club alone at 4 am in a cloud of fog. Beautifully textured, heady, and atmospheric. RIYL: Space Afrika, Burial 
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Cyril Cyril & Le Syndicat du Futur - “Le petit bonhomme orange”
Genre: Post-punk
A new single from Swiss post-punk duo Cyril Cyril and their children, making a French-sung anti-war, anti-dictatorship, anti-Trump song. A political song written from the children’s point of view, all through a cool and moody post-punk atmosphere. I’d highly recommend the music video (which you can stream on Bandcamp) that’s all done with clay stop motion 
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The Caries Company - Episodio Especial
Genre: Egg punk
A super high-energy, pitch-shifted, hyperactive, lo-fi 7 minute egg punk EP from Spain. For fans of people who accidentally play their Davila 666 records on 45 rpm 
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Candarian - Trepanacion
Genre: Death metal
Gore-infested old school death metal worship from Costa Rica. A debut release inspired by the likes of Autopsy and Incantation - filthy, heavy and groove-laden. 
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Teratoma - Longing Voracity
Genre: Death metal
Heavy, filthy guttural Berlin-based death metal band Teratoma return after a five year hiatus, leaving behind their crust/hardcore stylings and going straight for the old school death sound a la Bolt Thrower and Entombed. Favorite song: “Chaotic Bewilderment”
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Witch Prophet - Words are Spells, Thoughts are Magic
Genre: R&B, neosoul
Sweet and smooth fusion of jazz, neo-soul and R&B with East African melodic influences. Witch Prophet casts lyrical spells of intention and transformation, a perfect listen for all the divine femmes out there seeking a soundtrack to harness their inner magic 
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T&E writer Parisa says, "The early 2010s San Francisco freak-folk and garage revival scene gave rise to a flood of incredible bands. While a handful of names broke through and dominated the conversation, my personal favorite has always been a short-lived group called The Mallard. Across their two LPs, they captured the quintessential raw energy of the SF scene but filtered it through a moodier, post-punk lens. Their second and final album, Finding Meaning in Deference, radiates that cool, aloof and detached confidence while carrying a deep emotional undercurrent. “Warmth of Youth” is a standout for exactly that reason — a track that embodies the bittersweet nostalgia of adolescence. The fuzzed-out production conjures the hazy warmth of memory, while the dark, brooding synth line reflects the ache of distance and loss. The album was released after the band had already broken up, and for that reason, got lost in the hype of its time -- but it so very much deserves to be remembered and cherished."
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​T&E writer Parisa says, "In the early 1980s, the Movida Madrileña counterculture movement saw Madrid move towards a post-Francoist identity [after the death of dictator Francisco Franco in '75] - a reclamation of youth culture that was driven by hedonistic partying, open sexual expression and of course, rock 'n roll!! One of the bands that pioneered the goth scene of said movement was Parálisis Permanente, a killer and unfortunately short-lived band that evolved from post-punk to deathrock in their three active years. Lyrically always focused on the macabre and carried with an impossibly cool attitude, Parálisis Permanente deserves to be spun heavy on your spooky season rotation."

T&E writer Parisa says, "While the cloudy, grey days were very sparse this winter here in Tucson, I'm trying to force some semblance of a moody, introspective atmosphere before my brain goes full caveman mode in the summer. Shlohmo's 2010 Camping EP has consistently been a go-to for me in winter months to pull in those heady feelings, with the highlight being this glitchy, cerebral, heavily layered and textured electronic track. Sounds like a more aggressive Mount Kimbie, and while I love all his work, the earlier, more experimental sounds are way too underrated."
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Hello all you lovers and loners out there! Welcome to a special Valentine’s Day edition of the Vinyl Vault  ♥ I’m continuing on with my oddity record series, and for this installment, I picked out two romance-related albums from my stash to review (neither of which I had listened to before writing this blog). While these releases may not swoop you off your feet with their musicality, they’ll certainly have you blushing with their peculiar charm!! 

Mwah!
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Back in the late 1900s, there was a show called Sex in the City in which a fabuloso woman named Carrie Bradshaw would drink martinis, eat many expensive pointy shoes, and seek out the carnal pleasures of New York’s most exotic jabronis. This show caused a massive shift in the horny white woman zeitgeist where upper middle class ladies would follow suit of Bradshaw’s autonomous freedom and kinda shitty, self-serving personality. Who do we have to thank for such a pop culture phenomenon?! Well thanks to this record and my subsequent research, I’ve learned about the life and legacy of a one Helen Gurley Brown…

Helen Gurley Brown, born in 1922 in Green Forest, Alabama, was an author and publisher. Her career first took off with her 1962 book Sex and the Single Girl, a massively controversial bestseller that bluntly and unabashedly gave women advice on how to embrace their sexuality.  Three years later, she became the editor-in-chief at Cosmopolitan and revamped the publication from being a women’s magazine written by men to a woman-run publication. She’s been called “a pioneer in Prada”, “a revolutionary in stilettos”, and as a front runner of second wave feminism. 

Anyone who’s ever read a Cosmo article or even peered at the headlines while sitting in a dentist’s office knows, however, that it’s really not all that simple. While she did empower women to take pride in their sexuality and seek equality in the workplace, many other feminists note that her work could be considered equally retrogressive, “obscene and horrible”, and steeped in misogyny and body image problems. 
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I genuinely thought this record was satirical at first, but the more I listened the more I realized that Helen is offering genuine advice. It’s entertaining in the same way Sex and the City is entertaining (and with all my shit talking aside, yes I do secretly enjoy that show). It’s a product of its time. It has valuable moments, many forward-thinking theories for the early ‘60s, and serves as a snapshot during feminist history evolution…but ultimately, it’s so steeped in batshit insane quips that you’ll sit here listening to this jaw-dropped and laughing in utter shock and amusement. That being said, I ABSOLUTELY DO NOT recommend that you listen to this in earnest looking for “lessons in love”, but as a unique oddity with a long-lasting legacy, for better or worse. 
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The record is presented in two parts. Side 1 is catered for male listeners with How To Love a Girl and vice versa for Side 2. You can see from the chapter list titles and descriptions (pictured below) that she is quite witty and has a cheeky sense of humor. Upon listening to it, though, you’ll come to find that it’s not all that sarcastic and is still meant to be taken seriously. 
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• HOW TO HAVE AN AFFAIR -- AND LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER!

I find it painfully ironic that an album called Lessons in Love right off the bat leads with tips on how to have a successful affair. Brown insists that she does not condone or recommend having an affair (okay suuuuure), but if people are going to have affairs anyway, they might as well do it “respectfully”. She says, for example, that a man shouldn’t hide out his mistress and take her only to second-rate businesses. Instead, fly her out first class for a destination affair! Make sure you take your mistress out on her birthday even if you have to “lie your way to purgatory”. This is also supplemented with such fine quotes as, “Presents can help take the pressure off any situation. Money isn’t as tacky as you think.” Most importantly of all, she stresses never to cheat on your mistress with anyone but your wife. (That’s like, soooo totally a Samantha thing to say lolomg !!!!!1!1one!!!)

• HOW TO BEHAVE AT HOME -- IF YOU’RE MISBEHAVING AWAY FROM HOME

Here, Brown insists that you respect your wife by keeping your secret and not burdening her with the truth. (“Dont confess…ever ever ever.”) Ultimately, it is “your responsibility to keep the lipstick off your collar”. I find it pretty bewildering that affairs must’ve been so common in her world that the focus on keeping your spouse happy is less about the marriage and more about creating a balanced, equitable love triangle facade. 

• GETTING THE MOST FROM YOUR SECRETARY / [SIDE 2] HOW TO LOVE YOUR BOSS

Two chapters that once again reveal how this album is truly a product of its time. Brown speaks very matter-of-factly that the boss and secretary relationship is a given, and that it can be one of the most rewarding and longevous relationships you’ll have in your life.These chapters take “work crush” to a whole new (and slightly disturbing) level.  

• LITTLE MAN YOU’LL HAVE A BUSY DAY

A chapter for the short kings out there! That’s right, there’s a whole section letting men know that “you can be especially successful with women if you’re short”. It starts off somewhat progressive, stating that being big and bulk doesn’t equate to masculinity, and that short men and tall women can be a wonderful match. Then she goes rambling with many backhanded compliments and suggestions like, “have a razzle dazzle personality to make up for your height”, “considering building up your arms and chest”, and “consider a Benz or smaller car like a Jaguar” so you don’t look so tiny in a truck.
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She ends by emphasizing personality is important over all else. “Politeness is sexiness, and comedy is a better aphrodisiac than brandy! Most women would prefer to be laughed their way to bed than kissed there.” (That’s like….soooo totally a Carrie thing to say omggggggggglolololololololdikjfalk)

• HOW TO LOVE YOUR WIFE AND NOBODY ELSE

Another section you’d imagine to be a wholesome turnaround…but nope! I feel like this section feels like the impetus of every toxic Cosmopolitan relationship advice column. The advice flows around topics like jealousy being exciting and fun and unsolicited tips on making cocktails/getting drunk. The ‘60s were a wild time…
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• HOW TO LOVE A MAN IF YOU AREN’T PRETTY 

Brown starts off this side stating that she is not a “pretty woman”, but she harnesses a certain magic called…Plain Girl Power! Again, a moment that could’ve just been a nice relatable moment for women who lack self-confidence, but Helen has gotta take it to that proto-Cosmo place of body image dysmorphia and intrasexual competition. Damnit, Helen!!!!

So how does a “non-glamorous” girl compete? Well first thing’s first, you should AT LEAST be doing the obvious of drenching cotton in perfume and sticking it in your bra. She then goes on to argue that plain and flat-chested girls are actually the most sexy because “they have the want more than anything.” Woooooooooooooof. I was really rooting for Plain Girl Power at first but it ended up being a pretty abysmal philosophy! 

• HOW TO SAY NO TO A MAN WHO 

Throwing Helen a bone here, because even as dated as some of the quotes in this section are, it’s very commendable for a woman in the ‘60s to be directly teaching women how to create boundaries and say no. I’m not at all saying she was the first to do it, but at least she was using her mainstream position to spread some positive messaging.

• UNFAITHFUL WIVES’ TALES

“Why should it be worse for a woman to have an affair than a man?” Again, the discussion could’ve been something more wholesome and empowering, maybe flipping the script on how women are always blamed for being “homewreckers” when men are let off the hook for the emotional damage of affairs. But no no no….we’re listening to Lessons on Love here!!! How foolish would it be at this point to think anything that sensible would arise from this lecture? Instead, we listen to Brown emphasize over and over again to never confess your affair because it’ll only just “drive a wedge in your marriage."

• HOW TO TALK TO A MAN IN BED

This is, undoubtedly, my favorite part of the record. A great palette cleanser after all we’ve listened to. I assumed this part was going to be pretty raunchy, seeing as how this is classified as an erotica record with a big “adults only” sticker on the cover. But here are Brown’s vanilla ass suggestions on dirty talk:

“It’s nice to be here!”
“Isn’t this the loveliest?”
“Do you like me??”

Welp, I guess I finally got the wholesome moment on this record I’d been hoping for!

• HOW TO LOVE YOUR HUSBAND AND NOBODY ELSE

The album wraps up somewhat neatly with a reminder that love is grand and everyone is deserving. It could’ve been left there, but in true Lessons in Love fashion, we leave off on some Cosmopolitan-ass sounding bullshit on how to dress sexy for man. Wear some lingerie, unless of course you’re ugly, and absolutely, positively…

NO
BLUE 
JEANS!!!!

Yes, of all things mentioned on this record - affairs, love triangles, work relationships - the actual most grave mistake one can do in the name of love is wear a heinous set of blue jeans. A wonderful final takeaway from this 1960s misogynistic-feminist journey. 

Thank you for reading! However you spend your Valentine’s Day, whether it’s eating crackers in your blue jeans or on a secret destination vacation with your secretary, I hope it’s filled with sweetness and love. I’m going to end this blog with my occasional Vinyl Vault recurring segment…an actual good song as a reward for getting through this post! 
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This is my all-time favorite love song. The smoothest harmonies, incredible use of sampling, uniquely sweet lyrics. One of my favorite parts of this song is the note they end the last word on. It feels unexpected and way less saccharine than ending it on a big, major key “yOUU!” Do you know what I mean? Anyway, it’s doo-wop perfection. 

What is your favorite love song?! Feel free to leave a comment below. 
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New Music Drops is posted on Bandcamp Friday, where all sales go directly to the artists. All selections this month from Parisa
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V/A -  Wizzz! Volume 5
Genre: French pop
Another installment in the Wizzz! series from Born Bad Records, showcasing the crème de la crème of forgotten late sixties and early seventies French pop music. As always, a fabulous showcase of the absurdist, the grooviest, the swinging-est pop gems out there and packed with tons of liners notes about each track. This series never misses! 
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​V/A - FUTUR SIMPLE: Bongo Joe 10 Years
Genre: various, global
Swiss-based label Bongo Joe celebrates 10 years by having artists on their roster reimagine and reinterpret songs from each other’s various releases. A really neat way to showcase a retrospective in a forward-thinking way. You’ll hear lots of fusion sounds throughout - Latin, Turkish, French, etc. etc. 
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Layla Murad - If My Heart Has Known Humiliation: Cairo Baidaphon Recordings ca. 1936-49
Genre: Egyptian classical
Known as the Jewish-Muslim Star of Egypt, Layla Murad was a famed actress and singer in the ‘30s and ‘40s. This new compilation captures the elegance and beauty of her voice that carried all the emotional weight of living life in the spotlight. I always appreciate the restoration quality of Canary Records -- it’s clean enough to hear the intricacies of the orchestra but doesn’t lose any of the grit and soul in the recordings. 
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Ranil y Su Conjunto Tropical - Galaxia Tropical
Genre: Cumbia
When it comes to cumbia, no one shreds like my man Ranil. Simply the best! 
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DBR - Unbearable
Genre: Post-punk
The new synth punk solo project from Berlin’s Denes Bieberich (of Laff Box and Benzin). Ultra fast, punchy, angular with a blase attitude 
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Bungee Jumpers - Not Today…
Genre: Garage punk
Heard this one on the Bandcamp recommended releases blog, sounds kinda like if you accidentally left your Snooper cassette in your pants pocket and ran it through the washer/dryer. 
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Lonely Pilgraim - The Belfry at World’s Edge
Genre: Dungeon synth
I find it honestly insufferable that I’m recommending more than one dungeon synth album in this post, but what can I say, Fiadh Productions has been distributing so much great stuff I can’t resist! And I know there’s others like me out there that need some good dungeon synth for when you’re playing D&D or Everdell so…anyway..lol, here’s another good one. More on the Medieval fantasy-style of dungeon synth (this particular release inspired by Glen Cook’s The Black Company) and filtered through lots of fuzz and static 
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Coscradh - Carving the Causeway
Genre: Blackened death metal
The second album from Ireland’s Coscradh that invokes Celtic heritage and ancient mysticism. As so aptly described in the liner notes, it’s a “communion of druidic science and blood, ritual aggression and linguistic resurrection”. I was very unsure of this album at first because of the shrieky vocals, but the more I listened, the more I loved it. 
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Al Doum and the Faryds - Ipnagogico 
Genre: Fusion
Blending spiritual jazz, psychedelia and Afro-Latin rock with a Zappa-esque style of eccentric fusion. A large ensemble featuring not one…not two…but three sax players! And a bass clarinet! Favorite song: “Borracho”

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