It’s the end of the Gregorian year. Soon I’ll be writing my Top Albums of 2021 blog, but unlike a lot of other writers who do such blogs as early as late November sometimes, I want to give bands who are releasing albums in December a chance to make my list and not get lost in the shuffle. So don’t expect it until sometime after Winter Solstice. I haven’t gotten into any releases quite that new at the moment, although several of the tracks listed here are from November, but I’m staying on the lookout. Anyway, here are my favorite songs of the past 30 days. Or the past 720 hours, if you will.
The Tears of Ozymandias ~ 683280 Hours
The Tears of Ozymandias of Munich, Germany released their self-titled debut album last October, and on November’s Bandcamp Friday I snatched it up after hearing this track. This is a song about life; its finite nature. I relate to it deeply as its lyrics examine many of the existential questions I’ve often dealt with in recent years. The song could only be the end result of a similar journey to find meaning in life. The title made me curious as to how much 683280 hours adds up to. It’s 78 years. Roughly a typical human lifetime. Even though it’s a bigger number it hits differently than counting it in years. Makes it seem much shorter. No one even makes it to a million hours. And you’re lucky if you make it to 683280 hours, most people don’t. Perhaps it’s because I can fully grasp how long an hour is, while a year is a longer time and thus harder to conceptualize. It’s more abstract. I’m going to be halfway to 683280 hours in less than four years. Every day your number of hours goes up by 24. How many of those hours do you spend doing what you want to do? How many of those hours do we waste sleeping? Or doing a grueling 40 hour a week job? Add them all up and subtract them from 683280. It really changes your perspective on everything when you consider how finite life is. And yet we still dream, as the song says.
A very thought-provoking song. I can’t imagine a pop song ever delving into this subject matter. The lyrics are very befitting to the music genre.
You can find the album here:
IC2 ~ Falling Down
IC2 is a post-punk solo project headed by Ivan Coppola (the “IC” in the band name) from Villa Latina, Italy. The 4-track album that this song appears on, VERV66, was just released on November 27th (see, late November is too early to start doing your albums of the year lists), but from what I can see IC2 has been quite prolific since last year, releasing a new track every couple months or so. This song, “Falling Down”, has a danceable, darkwave element to it while remaining a bit melancholy in a way. It’s a song that I’ve kept coming back to ever since I first heard it.
Check the album out here:
Obsidian ~ Vultures
You can pick it up here:
https://officialobsidian.bandcamp.com/album/vultures
Bloody/Bath is a post-punk/shoegaze band out of Northampton, UK. This particular track showcases their post-punk side. Something about the British accent just lends authenticity to the music, since that’s how all of the early post-punk sounded. Bloody/Bath emerged last year, as it seems a lot of bands did during the lockdown, and have had a lot of releases since, much of it either available for free or name-your-price on Bandcamp. Definitely a band I plan on checking out more, having only recently discovered them through this track that caught my attention.
Leonora Post Punk ~ Eternos
Leonora Post Punk is a band out of Los Mochis, Mexico. And I knew this was a promising band because it has one of my favorite music genres in its name. I’ve always liked Mexico’s gothic music scene too. It never disappoints. This song, the title track off their album (another October 2020 release), is short and sweet, but it gives you a good sampling of what their music sounds like.
You can find their latest album Eternos here:
Node ~ Brain Fog
Another song by the Armenian coldwave/synthwave group Node, based out of Yerevan. As you may know by now I’ve been trying my best to cover the emerging dark alternative music scene in the country. This song has a dreamlike quality that suits the subject matter, being lost in a daydream and somewhat oblivious to your surroundings. It’s a calm, soothing song that takes you out of the moment and loses you in thought. As with Node’s other songs, the lyrics aren’t really written in proper English, but of course that adds to the charm. This song is a YouTube exclusive for the moment.
You can have a look at their Bandcamp page here:
iamnoone ~ My Own Flesh
Iamnoone (I am no one) is a coldwave duo from Italy. Lots of good music from Italy this past month. This track is off their newest album Dead Season, released on November 26 of this year, so still very new. They recorded the music from this album during the pandemic (the titular dead season), and it is about that time and how it changed people’s perception of what was important and what was actually trivial. They illustrate this very well on their Bandcamp page for the album. I always like it when an artist has a unifying theme or concept on their albums. It’s a really good album too, my second favorite is the track “Labyrinth”, which I heard before hearing this one.
Check it out here:
Dead Cool ~ Until Death
This song really is dead cool. We have an overarching memento mori theme on the list this month (probably not even close to the first time that’s happened). The synths are upbeat and danceable, but the lyrics are darker than the music might suggest. “You’ll never be alone until death. Your body will stay warm until death.” On one hand that’s comforting, I suppose. At least you won’t be alone before death. The music video has some 80s horror movie inspirations and is certainly worth a watch as well.
Dead Cool are a duo from Wilmington, North Carolina. You can buy the track as a single here:
Bloody/Bath ~ Witch Hunt
The 3 track album this appears on, Unholy Sonnets, can be found here:
No comments:
Post a Comment