Top 3 Songs of the Month - November 2020/Տրե 4513 - Selofan, Minuit Machine, System of a Down

The sun is waining, the outside temperatures in Florida are nearly comfortable, got a nice out of season tropical storm going on right now. The US presidential elections have been decided, and they elected the good cop instead of the bad cop. It’s probably going to be more of the same really, the same puppeteers still pull all the strings, but maybe I’m just pessimistic, not to mention way further left than either candidates. 

My focus has not been on that, but on the ongoing Artsakh war, doom-scrolling on Facebook and Reddit for news on the bombardment of Shushi, second largest city in the region. I find Reddit to be the more level-headed place to get one’s news. There’s quite a bit of inaccurate news passed around on Facebook. But you sure can’t rely on mainstream media for news on the conflict. Best you’ll get is some brief “neutral” coverage that blames both sides. Imagine a neutral report of Germany’s invasion of Poland in 1939 presenting both sides as equal aggressors. That’s basically what it is. You have Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Syrian and Pakistani terrorists against a small country of 3 million people, fighting alone for more than a month. Who do you think is the aggressor? I don’t have much more to say about the war than I already have said in my blogs last month, but it has been the main source of my angst and depression since September 27th. Maybe I should be glad nothing in my personal life is giving me that much stress, so I have the luxury of stressing about wars in distant countries instead. But I will always feel a connection to Armenia. I did write and submit a poem about my feelings watching the war unfold from the Armenian diaspora to the website https://kooyrigs.org/, who are putting together a poetry compilation about the war. Hope I make it in. 

I’m still uploading my webcomic too. It is slowly getting more views. I was almost worried focusing on the comic would cause me to abandon this blog, but not yet. I suppose as long as I want to post ramblings that are too long for a Facebook post, I will keep this blog going. You’re probably not going to see any huge projects on this blog like the Years in Music series for a while though.

Anyway, the general mood of the past month has influenced the music I’ve been listening to. 

Selofan - Absolutely Absent

The Greek darkwave band Selofan released their new album Partners in Hell on October 20, and I have enjoyed what I’ve heard. This song in particular has been running through my head since I heard it. Being plagued by troubles on the other side of the planet as I have been, in a way, I feel absolutely absent myself. 

Find the album on Bandcamp here:

https://selofan.bandcamp.com/album/partners-in-hell

Minuit Machine - To Control

Minuit Machine’s new EP Don’t Run From the Fire released on October 16th. I suppose I’ve been very up to date on my musical tastes as of late. The title track was my top song last month, and this track here is a worthy follow up, with much the same energy as the other. The lyric “I want you to be scared” sounds really badass. The rest of the song has almost a horror sort of feel to it. Which also fits my mood these days. A good 2020 track, this is. 

The EP Don’t Run From the Fire can be purchased here:

https://minuitmachine.bandcamp.com/album/dont-run-from-the-fire

System of a Down - Protect the Land

Surprising everyone, except perhaps those who already knew about the second Artsakh War, was the return of System of a Down after a 15 year hiatus. This singularly brought more awareness about the war than anything else thus far. And it is good to hear this band again. I have listened to and enjoyed Serj Tankian’s solo music, as well as some of Scars on Broadway, which was started by the rest of the band. But I had forgotten what it was like to hear them all together in the studio again. The way they harmonize is so different from any of their solo stuff. I of course have a long history with this band. I first heard them in 1999, and liked them before I even knew they were Armenian. I was at their concert in Yerevan in 2015 for the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide. And while my musical tastes have moved on from rock and metal (hence why this isn’t higher up on my top 3), I have always had a special place in my heart for this band. 

The song is an ode to those in Artsakh who are fighting to protect their homes. 

Proceeds from this track as well as “Genocidal Humanoidz” go directly to ArmeniaFund, which right now is sending aid to the victims of Artsakh who have had to flee the invasion. It’s only two dollars for the songs. But you can always give more. 

Here is where you can buy the two songs:

https://systemofadown.bandcamp.com/

Honorary Mention: Orange Sector- Zerstorer

Orange Sector is a band I first heard a couple years ago, with cathartic songs such as “I Hate You” and “I Spit on You”. I’m sure everyone knows someone they would dedicate those songs to. This song, German for “Destroyer”, is a catchy and danceable Industrial/EBM track. It’s a type of music I was more into back in my 20s, reminding me of bands such as And One (who in fact did a song with the same name which I cannot help but be reminded of), but every once in a while it’s a good genre to return to. This track came out March of this year. And unusually for me, it was my wife Deborah who discovered it first and then turned me onto it. She’s usually more into pop music, but she liked the two songs I mentioned earlier. 

https://infactedrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/zerst-rer