There’s too much music out there (see my weekly column on the subject) but I’m doing my best to sort things through the chaos for you. Anything here that gets your musical spidey-sense tingling?
1. Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, Mr. Medicine
Land of Sleeper (Missing Piece Group Records)
Recommended If You Like: The idea of Black Sabbath and Motorhead having a baby
Newcastle’s Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs (that’s seven “pigs” for a five-piece band) specializes in heavy garage-psych that has been described as a “sense-bludgeoning amalgamation of metal, punk, and experimental noise at its most brutal.” Add in the dark humour in their lyrics, and I find them thrilling. The full album is due February 17.
2. Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Drummer
Return of the Dream Canteen (Warner)
RIYL: Well, it’s Chilis, innit?
This has been a good year for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. John Frusciante is back, reuniting the classic version of the band. They had a number one album back in April with Unlimited Love and another number one with this record. That makes them the first rock band to have two number one albums in the same year since System of a Down back in 2005. Here’s the second single from the Canteen album. Neat video, too.
3. Autopilot, Feverish Dreams
Single (Unleased Music)
RIYL: Saskatchewan Bands
Outside of the Northern Pikes and The Sheepdogs (and if you really, REALLY want to get pedantic, Streetheart), it’s hard to name a lot of bands to come out of Saskatchewan. But here we have a three-piece called Autopilot, a group with a fondness for covering Cure songs, who suddenly find themselves with a single that’s getting a considerable amount of attention in the US. Let’s see what happens.
4. Everclear, Year of the Tiger
Single (The End Records)
RIYL: Chinese astrology?
Art Alexakis has been fronting Everclear for 30 years now and will keep going as long as his Parkinson’s diagnosis will let him (it’s nicely under control, by the way). Art, born in 1962 (a Year of the Tiger in Chinese astrology), is almost ready with the first Everclear album since 2015. If you’re wondering where he’s coming from with this song, he believes that the tiger should be the new symbol of the Democratic Party and should go hard after MAGA types.
5. AWOLNATION, We Are All Insane
Single (Better Noise)
RIYL: Clever video projects
AWOLNATION’s Aaron Bruno wanted to do something with a triptych of songs, creating what he calls “interlocking music videos.” The first came a few months ago with Freaking Me Out. Part two continues the story of life in this futuristic world where people are trying to escape an overly digital world. Stay tuned for part three.
Comments