The summer is underway and even if the weather is letting us down in this part of the world, we’ll still have all these party bangers.
That’s a lie. There are no party bangers this month.
Now that’s not to say this month’s music isn’t great, but you’re not going to find the soundtrack for your beach party here. So close the curtains and block out the light as we delve into this month’s tunes.
Hexwave
Ruinous
With a title like Ruinous, you kind of get an idea that this album isn’t going to be sweetness and light, but it’s always fun to strap yourself in and see where a release with a name like that will take you. (If you’re into that kind of thing.) All though, track titles like Void Static and Searching the Depths give you an idea what you’re in for. This is dark, atmospheric techno, and it’s not here to mess around.
From the unsettelling vibes of Entering the Woods, Hexwave sets the listener up for a disquieting experience. The low, almost growling keys build a great sense of unease and the track’s slow immersion in static around its edges really lets you know what you’re in for.
The second track, Void Static is far more propulsive. Slowly building into a full on techno banger, but not anything a sane DJ would play to a big room.
The ep’s dynamics, its push / pull between fast and slow tracks keeps things interesting. It never loses its atmosphere as it switches things up, always moving and always drawing the listeners attention.
So, as I say, Ruinous isn’t an easy listen, it really has a dark edge, but equally isn’t a challenge to get through, at 28 minutes this is hardly a season in the abyss. The music on here is catchy and the techno bangers on here stop the downbeat tracks becoming overpowering. If you like some edge to your beats I highly recommend Ruinous, but beware. This isn’t summer BBQ music.
https://songwhip.com/hexwave/void-static
Emika
Haze
It’s safe to say that Haze is one of the prettiest albums I’ve heard in a long time. It’s combination of Emika’s great voice and rich bass really make this album stand out from the downbeat electronica crowd.
Built with neo classical touches, some gentle piano and more than a splash of Burial’s atmosphere, Haze lives up to its name as it glides in through your speakers. Tracks are built with low bass, and woodblock beats, all topped off by Emika’s featherweight vocal, soaring over the tracks themselves, shimmering and surrounding you with a soft reverie.
Haze is so polished it almost gleams and that can cover just how downbeat this album is in places. What might feel like a chilled late evening summer album certainly has a darker side, even if it is fairly non threatening.
The record drifts off a bit at the end with tracks that feel more like sketches than finished songs, but that doesn’t detract from the feel of the album. If you’re in the place for some expertly crafted chillout music, you honestly can’t go wrong here.
https://songwhip.com/emika/harmony
Creek
Shortsighted.
I get a lot of my music recommendations from the Drowned in Sound forum. Every Friday, there’s a big chat about the day’s new releases and every week a few new bands crop up that sound interesting. Shortsighted. was suggested as emogaze and my first reaction was, what? What does that sound like?
What it sounds like is one of the best records I’ve heard this year.
I found myself playing it three times, back to back on the first listen. That never happens to me. I don’t listen to music like that but I couldn’t stop myself. It’s gotten to the point that I’ve had to ration out this album. I’m only allowing myself one listen a day because I’m afraid of overplaying it.
As I say, this never happens.
Yet here we are.
So Emogaze seems to translate as alt rock with a dash of shoegaze. This is dark but melodic, heavy alt rock, with a touch of bands like Deftones and Nothing. It’s enveloping and intense with its layered, slightly harsher background vocals giving the songs a lift and a lot of extra heft.
The title track is the ep highlight and probably the closest thing to a shoegaze song on here. The slow, moody build of the guitars as they slowly fill the space in the song is perfect, pushing the vocals even more forward. It gives me goosebumps every time I listen to it.
Over, the ep finisher, is an acoustic track which somehow overcomes my general dislike of acoustic songs. So gentle and fragile, it’s the perfect release from the bass heavy music of the rest of the record.
I don’t like swearing in reviews. I think it’s somewhere between try hard and boring, but sometimes you need a strong intensity modifier, and here we are.
What a fucking record.
https://songwhip.com/creek4/shortsighted2024
Oh Hiroshima
All Things Shining
It’s the mix of alt rock and post rock that makes Sweden’s Oh Hiroshima stand out from the crowd. While they still use towering crescendos and walls of guitars, OH’s use of vocals set them apart. While they’re mostly subdued, they really help give the band a sense of identity that can be lost with a lot of instrumental acts.
The opening three tracks here showcase the band perfectly. Wild Iris is all towering post rock and driving indie, Holiness Moment with its moody brass, and Swans in the Field with its strings showcases the band’s effortless grasp of drama. It’s a hell of a way to start an album.
All Things Shining is another well crafted album from Oh Hiroshima. Their ability to meld brass and strings is always handled with a deft touch and their fantastically dirty bass is always welcome. And while I would have liked a bit more brass on this album, there’s more than enough great music on here to keep me happy.
It’s also worth taking a moment of your time to just enjoy how great the cover for this album is.
https://songwhip.com/oh-hiroshima/wild-iris
Hubble
Hubble
This album got bumped from my post last month, as it got swallowed up in a deluge of new music. I didn’t want to drop it but I have only so much time, so some acts just get lost in the churn. I did feel bad about it, so seeing as June has been a slow month, let me tell you about Hubble.
Hubble are a French prog, post rock band who have based their album on the Apollo 13 mission. The album is built on quite long passages taken from TV broadcasts, starting with Kennedy’s “We Chose to go to the Moon” speech, following the lunar mission all the way through to the splashdown of the Apollo capsule.
The opener, To The Moon, has obvious comparisons with God is an Astronaut, but by track two we’re off into far more original territory. A strange world where mathy prog is mixing with very unexpected dashes of funk. I guess that this is the first warning that this record isn’t going where you think it is.
The album centerpiece is a 14 minute epic that really is bringing you on a journey. It slowly unfurls, creating a gentle, relaxing mood until what sounds like slap bass starts. Then a languid guitar solo takes center stage and we’re off on a cosmic post rock journey. The track continues until it’s warped into something close to chilled space funk before rocking out till the end of the song. This shouldn’t work, but somehow it really does.
I don’t know anything that sounds like this.
This is a really interesting album with lots to dig into, but your mileage will depend on how you feel about the samples about the space race. It’s been done a lot by bands like Exxasens and Public Service Broadcast. But if you’re still open to the wonder of the Space Race then join Hubble and strap yourself in for another take on one of the greatest journeys mankind has ever taken.
https://songwhip.com/hubble4/landing-first-steps-lift-off
Outlander
Acts of Harm
Sweet Jesus folks, it’s yet another post rock / metal album. Yes, he’s banging on about another post rock album. But it’s a very good one, so bear with me.
Outlander take their main inspiration from Justin Broadrick’s Jesu.
This is very pretty, plaintive music and while this is definitely a post metal album, it’s post metal more in atmosphere than in heaviness or being DOOM. As the vocals are sung rather than bellowed, Acts of Harm would be completely accessible to fans of shoegaze or some of the darker, more downbeat alt rock / indie bands.
This album may be a bit too downbeat and dark for the beautiful summer weather we’re having at the moment but you shouldn’t let that get in the way of just how strong this album is. Shut the curtains, close the doors, curl up and let Outlander wash over you and carry you away.
https://songwhip.com/outlander-3/want-no-more
The ways of exile 