New Music Friday

[singedsun]

Literally the best music (for me) day in a really long time. One of my favorite bands EVER (like EVER), Stabbing Westward dropped a new album for the first time in TWENTY YEARS. (Also, the 2001 album barely counts. It was bad, we don't claim it.) This new album, "Chasing Ghosts" even sounds like them. They reunited with their original producer to get that sounds back and I think they really succeeded. I listened to this for most of my work day today and was just very pleased by the whole thing. I'm just tickled that there's a new album and that it's honestly good in a way that makes me wish they'd been able to make it twenty years ago. (Okay... maybe not "Control Z", it did get a chuckle out of me, but it of questionable lyrical quality.)

We're not as full metal Friday as we were last week, I've got a variety today, something for most.

Like, this first song. Now, I'm no Ed Sheeran fan, but this cover of "Bad Habits" by Scary Pockets with Sara Niemietz on vocals is really good. I love the organ breakdown in the middle. Sara has such a just genuinely good husky singing voice and she does these funky riffs so well, I love it a lot.

Watch on YouTube

I know I've said it before, but I think everyone should be giving Tank and the Bangas a chance. They're doing something so cool and I really really enjoy every single song from them. It's like spoken word poetry meets funk meets peppy pop. In this new live video for "Black Folk" you'll get the full range of what Tank does with her voice, there's a part where she says the same line three very different ways just changing the pitch of her voice and attitude and it's just very good. I know this style of music, but I think everyone should give them a shot. There's just so much joy in their music.

Watch on YouTube

Honestly I wasn't going to put a second cover in the videos section, but look this video from Corvyx for his cover of Yonaka's "Seize the Power" is just great. I don't know if I've shared his videos before, but he does these like gothy covers of songs that are best known for being sang by women and his voice and his style are just *chef's kiss*. I love 'em.

Watch on YouTube

Honorable mentions:

• The new Sarah Saint James EP, "HOME IS WHERE HELL IS" came out today and if you haven't heard her song "" on TikTok before, you're missing out. Her work feels so personal, especially to me who was a plus-sized teen growing up in a very religious family. Like, if I knew anything about writing music, this is the shit I would write.
• Also, the album from ROSALÍA came out today. I haven't listened to her much before this but I saw her appearance on SNL last weekend and listened back to her songs a couple of times. I didn't know this album, "MOTOMAMI" was coming out today until I saw it on YT Music, but I had a lot of fun listening to it.
• Maybe a CW for this video for the new Marianas Rest video, "The Weight" which has a lot of covered faces and death makeup. The song however, if you're a fan of death metal, is very good. Also, just in general the aesthetics for this video are very A24 "elevated" horror movie and I love it.

That's it for this week. I hope you enjoy some or all of these! And if you've been listening to something new this week, let me know what it is.

Comments

[liriaen]

Tank and the Bangas! I was so very fortunate to see live them, pre-plague, some years back. I've rarely been in the presence of such bubbling musicality - their effervescence was contagious. Have you seen their "Tiny Desk Concert" for NPR? So wonderful! Glad to have met another aficionado. :)

[Edit to accommodate Rosalía squee: Haven't listened to the new album in full yet, it seems very... rich. The scope of her artistry, her range are amazing. I recall watching the A Palé video for the first time and having to collect my jaw off the floor afterwards. It's by no means the type of music I'd listen to regularly (being more in the 'anything from Bauhaus to Turbonegro to Sunn O)))' class), but the visual codes and the music were so unique. She's just that, unique, a category of her own.]

[singedsun]

OMG Rosalía! She does have just a unique vibe. Her voice is great but I felt like every song on her album was just different enough that they could be by a different artist and it wouldn't surprise me. She's blending a lot of stuff and I love it. She's not a typical listen for me (I tend to lean heavily on the rock/metal/goth side) but sometimes I just have to enjoy someone really enjoying the craft.

[senmut]

Very nice selections! Thank you for sharing them!

[necrophilia]

Stabbing Westward! Thank you for sharing the existence of their new album, I never would have known otherwise.

[singedsun]

OMG I knew they released a single at the end of last year, but I didn't know we were getting a whole album! Let me know what you think about it once you listen to it! I thought it was just as good as some of their older stuff.