DEHYDRATION STATION: It’s a supergroup, a superb group, or maybe both. New noisy hardcore band Gush is composed of members of, most notably, McQQueen and Muuy Biien, among others. They’ve just released a nine-song, self-titled debut album, and it’s exactly the kind of thing begging to accompany your summer sweat fest. It’s less artsy than the former and less coldly stand-offish than the latter. Indeed, this is the kind of record that will spend most of its life blasting out of restaurant dish pits and pizza delivery vehicles. While not a direct sonic descendent at all, it’s something of a spiritual one to Killdozer, maybe Atlanta band Whores and, if you stretch your credulity in just the right direction, the Nihilist Spasm Band. It’s a dark-n-loud, bass-oriented album that swims near the bottom of both mood and tone. Super highlights here are “In The Clutches,” “Please” and the title track (complete with an indie-Zeppelin worthy intro!). Dig it at gush4u.bandcamp.com.
ANOTHER SWING: For several years one of the highlights of summertime in Athens was the MOEKE Records Summer Singles series. Recorded and coordinated by engineer Jesse Mangum at The Glow Recording Studio, the series released songs on a rolling basis as they were recorded—each in a single session—and by the end of the season there’d be a nice and pretty representative collection of what Athens sounded like that year. Mangum ended the series a while back because, “…it really came down to me realizing, pretty late in the game, that running a recording studio and running a record label are both full-time jobs, and I simply couldn’t do both, so the label had to get the axe.” Even so, close observers noticed that a few songs have come out so far under the same format and release style, albeit under The Glow Recording Studio name and not a label name. Specifically, killer new tracks from Jock Gang, Nomenclature and Pinkest can be found at theglowrecordingstudio.bandcamp.com. There should be a total of around 10 songs by the time this compilation is complete. Mangum says, “I never intended to bring the series back, but coming out of lockdown, I felt compelled to do something to help local artists/bands get back on their feet… and to give the general public some sense of who was still around and who was new to the scene. Within my means, this was the most obvious way to achieve that. So yeah, it’s essentially the same thing as before, only we’re spending a bit more time on these… and it’s not the product of a label. It’s not about that.”
REPORTING FOR DUTY: The goof troops populating Aldente have a new album out this week (July 23). They’ve named it Spaghetti and it’s a silly and wackadoo dance-oriented album full of deftly composed beats and comedic raps. Just like its 2019 album, King Da Ka, this can get a little long after a while, but when it hits (example: “Zing Zang”) it just smokes. Honestly, just let it play on a loop, and you’ll eventually start singing along, and these tracks will stay stuck in your head long after you want them there. Further, this crew’s vocal ability is right on time every time. Upon its release, you can find this on Spotify and celebrate with the band at its release party that very same night with Nuclear Tourism and Nihilist Cheerleader. Head to instagram.com/aldentealdentealdente for details on that.
GOING BLANK AGAIN: Last week, I told y’all about Mr. Blank’s new track “Slab City.” Well, he’s got another new one named “You Can’t Get There From Here” out now, and it’s full of space-y oscillations, snaps, crackles and pops. Total headphone track that, if you wait until around the eight-minute mark, will begin to channel a little Pink Floyd. In other news, he’s cleared his decks a little and re-released a few old collections from nearly 20 years ago. First is Meat Beat Moron (2002), and then there are two releases from when he used the project name Cluster Muse. Those are titled Empty (2002) and Incidental Program Trash (2003). While none of the three are exactly what you’d call mainstream, they are quite tune-oriented in a way his most recent work isn’t, and mostly catchy to boot. Check this all out at mrblank.bandcamp.com.
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