Top8 - 12/09/24 - WTSQ 88.1 FM

December 12, 2024 - 09:13 AM

Before we get into the blog this week, an apology. This article is always due on Mondays. This Monday, our website was down. Subsequently, I just forgot until Wednesday morning. And then I forgot again when I got home and made focaccia instead. Then when I tried to post the article, the damned website glitched and didn't save it. So, here we are Thursday morning. The focaccia did turn out well though.

With that out of the way, welcome back to Top8. I have a new desk setup in my apartment and my lamp is kind of shining right in my eyes. It's a kind of a wonky, garbage lamp which I have just been too cheap to replace, so honestly I only have myself to blame. Metaphor, that.

I continue to really enjoy the cold. I finally feel like going outside and doing things. And the grey sky suits me. The Sun is obnoxious. The Sun is the kinda guy who really needs to be the center of attention at a party. Telling jokes and offering opinions on the best IPAs and craft beers. I am a Moon girl. The Moon brings you a White Claw and is like, "hey, what's up?" and then just leaves you alone if you don't have anything to say. Send your favorite astronomical body to wtsq.org/contact.

Mary in the Junkyard - This is my California

London's Mary in the Junkyard call themselves "angry weepy chaos rock". You will get a bit more of that on the band's other singles like "Tuesday". They spend a fair bit of time in the post-punk of bands like English Teacher. "This is my California" is more in line with the hazy grunge revival of Snail Mail. There's just a bit of swaying modern twang here too. This song is a tipsy dance across the kitchen with someone you love and are about to lose forever.

Rockwell's Ghost - Fox News Killed My Dad

There's a British expression – "it does what it says on the tin", meaning that some things tell you exactly what they are right up front. If you see a song called "Fox News Killed My Dad" in the queue, you probably expect a hard lefty punk rock track about how bullshit neocon media has ruined many people's relationships with their parents. Rockwell's Ghost delivers exactly that on this track. Think of 2000s acts like Propagandhi. Rockwell's Ghost can set off a proper moshpit in the right crowd and a song like this just might get people moving. It is worth mentioning that Rockwell's Ghost is from right here in West by goddamn Virginia – meaning you could be the one who sets this pit off. If you don't, watch out for a shoulder check from the girl with the pink hair.

Trash Sun - When You Come Home & High Alone

I cannot stop listening to the new Trash Sun EP "Live Free and Die". So much so that I could not pick just one track for you. So, I am breaking the rules and selecting two. I am just hoping that Chris Long hasn't read down this far and he never notices that I have done so, with flagrant disregard of rules, standards, and accepted norms. This is just between us. Mums the word.

Trash Sun is out of New Hampshire and I honestly have no idea what that means. What the hell even is New Hampshire? What do they do there? I mean, I know it's a state. I believe it's the Granite State, and I could just google that, but for comedic effect, I choose not to. I also know the motto is "Live Free or Die" which seems to have inspired this EP's name. I imagine they camp and make maple syrup or something. At least four of them are in a really great band called Trash Sun.

Both "When You Come Home" & "High Alone" give you a big earful of buzzy, distorted guitar noise and vaguely stoned vocals. This is where I'd make a reference to Pavement if I was going to permit myself the crutch of comparing bands to Pavement every single time I write this blog. Which I am absolutely not going to do. "When You Come Home" starts things off with a genuinely country sounding fiddle before getting down to business. "High Alone" jumps right into the loud-quiet-loud. In both cases, this is really effective and well done.

Baby Tyler - Needs

Baby Tyler is the punk project of a dude called Tyler Fassnacht out of Madison, WI. The song I am looking at today is "Needs". This is modern, lofi trash punk in the vein of Teen Mortgage or 1-800-Mikey. Bands like this have black and white photos of live shows which are intentionally made to look like they were shot on film in the 80s while opening up for, I don't know, let's say Teenage Jesus and the Jerks. This is a banger.

Sharon Van Etten & Ezra Furman - Feel So Different (Sinead O'Connor Cover)

A track that starts out with the serenity prayer is dangerously close to being cloying and silly from the jump. Regardless, Sinead O'Connor made it work, and so does Sharon Van Etten & Ezra Furman.

This cover never quite achieves the energy of Sinead's original, but I think that's mainly because it's not trying to. This is a somber affair with the Van Etten and Furman trading verses. It works because of how emotive they are in their delivery. The music is provided by a string section or some analog thereof.

This is from a compilation called "Transa" from the Red Hot Org who have been doing LGBTQ benifits and awareness albums for decades. Transa is meant to shine a light on trans musicians and voices. Most of the tracks on the album are from these artists or are collaborations with them (like this one). Like all Red Hot compilations, it's absolutely stacked and fairly long. Give the whole thing a spin.

Wish Queen - Feeder

Wish Queen's bio says "Crowned after years of languishing at the wishing well, bearing the immense weight of unfulfilled desires and unquenchable longing." Which, I think, means that she's out of Cleveland. "Feeder" is a glorious slow burn drenched with reverb and passion. There are shades of Mazzy Star, Cigarettes After Sex, and Angel Olsen. But this is also very much its own thing. Only listen to this one at night.

Bambara - Pray to Me

I started to say that Bambara were the Athens, GA version of The Murder Capital, but then I remembered that they have been around for several years longer. In fact, WTSQ has been playing Bambara for ages. This is gloomy, slightly gothy, post punk. There is a nearly panicked, menacing sound to "Pray to Me". Can we trust people to be our saviors? Unlikely.

Jagged Baptist Club - Blow Dry Nation

We last talked about Jagged Baptist Club back in September when they released the single "Slid Out in the Sunroom". The album "Physical Surveillance" is now out, so I wanted to take another look. This is a band that jumped garage rock in the parking lot, stole its late 60s organ and recorded a post punk record with it. You can still smell the weed on some of these mp3s. And that's awesome. I haven't checked, but I bet they have a video where they are doing pranks in a Walmart parking lot. And I am not complaining or teasing – this is exactly what I want a bunch of dudes in a garage band to be like.

"Blow Dry Nation" has the kind of swaggery rock and roll energy that has so often surfaced such bands over the years. This is a track that finds your shoulders and hips and kinda makes you start doing this Mick Jagger type dance.