by David Wilikofsky
In a world of information overload, how can you reliably discover great new music? For us, the answer is record labels. Great labels act as a stamp of quality; for the best, any album they put out is well worth your time. Labels need our support now more than ever, so if you like what you hear please head over to their site and order some music!
Fire Talk Records has been around for more than a decade, releasing some of the best off-kilter music to be heard. It started life when label founder Trevor Peterson’s band Woodsman was booking their first national tour. To make their CD-Rs seem a bit more legit, the band created the Fire Talk logo and slapped it on the albums. Soon other bands wanted to use the logo, and Fire Talk evolved into a full fledged label. Flash forward to today, and Fire Talk has one of the strongest rosters around. Pretty much every album the Brooklyn based label has been putting out recently finds its way into our regular rotation. With a deep back catalog that’s equally exciting, there’s never been a better time to explore their releases. After checking out our picks, head over to their Bandcamp or official site for more.
S/T | PURE X After an absence of four years, Pure X came roaring back earlier this year with their best album yet. The band’s last record before their hiatus, Angel, was an exercise in precision with a clean, crisp sound. On this followup, the band experiments with impressionistic washes of reverb to stunning effect. It’s an exciting evolution of the band’s sound, mixing slowcore with fragile pop and cascades of distortion. A perfect album to soundtrack the dog days of summer, it has been in constant rotation for the past few months.
ESSENTIALS | PATIO Patio do more with less. The Brooklyn based trio strips rock music down to basics on their debut album. The songs are driven by the tight grooves of the band’s rhythm session, creating angular, minimal rock songs that wouldn’t feel out of place on early Wire albums. Patio are a product of the Brooklyn DIY scene, and Easter eggs are scattered throughout for local aficionados (Washer, a local favorite band, get name checked at least once). But the charms of this album are universal, and there are joys to be found for all listeners.
WATER | DEHD Perhaps befitting its bright yellow cover, Dehd create some of the sunniest sounding music this side of The Beach Boys on Water. You can also hear echoes of shambolic pop forbearers, from C86 bands to Hunx and his Punx. Given the ebullience of the music, it’s interesting that the album was written and recorded in the wake of bandmates Emily Kempf and Jason Balla break up. Luckily, the band is still very much together; stay tuned for their follow up in a few weeks, which is eagerly awaited in these parts.
AUTO PAIN | DEEPER In Alodus Huxley’s Brave New World, soma was a pill used to dull the senses. “Auto pain”, a term of the band’s invention inspired by the book, is the opposite of that; it’s feeling everything deeply and at once. The songs on Deeper’s sophomore album, released in late March this year just as shelter in place orders were being put out throughout the country, are filled with all sorts of emotions. Paired with urgent vocals delivered by vocalist Nic Gohl and industrial tinged instrumentals, it’s the rare sophomore album that bests the debut.
S/T | WEEPING ICON On their debut album, Weeping Icon create genre hopping heavy music. Sludgy metal riffs give way to hardcore breakdowns and punk workouts. Short instrumental interludes between songs give the listener a chance to breathe while also serving as the perfect transitions between songs. The album is a cohesive whole rather than just a collection of songs. Lyrically, the band is interested in the omnipresence of technology and smartphones, and how they suck our attention and prevent us from being fully present. An urgent, vital release.
As hinted above, the label’s next release will be Dehd’s Flower of Devotion, out July 17. Check out the video for lead single “Loner” below