I think I finally figured out what “Music Wire” is supposed to be. 3 years ago I tried writing this eleventh edition but it’ll live in my drafts until the server dies. Never could figure out what this series was supposed to be. I took these things so seriously like anyone would ever actually read this garbáge. I cared too much, and 6 years later I don’t at all.
This series will just be a few hundred words about new LPs I’ve acquired, concerts, news, and current listenings. Nothing specific or planned with each new entry. Just been feeling the need to do this, typing, whatever that means in 2025, or this mortal coil.
3 years ago Brutus crafted their best record (so far) and personally one of the best in 2022. A strong year in its own right, Unison Life stood out by refining their style from 2019’s Nest which I found during COVID. While raw and less cohesive from track to track Nest still presented the band’s unique structure. Female lead vocals who also played drums, take some old plays out of the Deftones gameplan, sprinkle some blackgaze with the vocalist’s big voice.
On Unison Life however these elements are pieced together smoothly, intentionally, and delve deeper into the shoegaze subgenre’s bag of tricks. More dreamy little coloring and soundscapes. If Deafheaven pushed “blackgaze” forward into popular consciousness, then Brutus is pushing what I call desertgaze. What is that exactly? Imagine a recording studio in the Coachella valley, say Joshua Tree, and Deafheaven, Deftones, and Kyuss are all hanging out sharing ideas, gear, and peyote. This album scratches those grains of sand.
Oddly I haven’t played that album in at least a year. Still held up. I’ll have to account for why it took so long to revisit these songs. Checking in on the band they recently finished a tour with no new shows on their schedule. Hopefully they’re head to a recording studio to track their next project. I’m sure looking out for it.
Yet another record I hadn’t popped on for years, at least 2 if not 3. Snagged one of only 2000 copies during the height of COVID in August of 2020. Played that record over and over again. Listening back to Comadre’s self-titled, and only studio album, reminded me a lot of Touché Amoré’s Stage Four and Lament. Kind of impressive considering those albums came years after Comadre disbanding. Screamo in the present general reminds me of this record. Their loud and chaotic energy definitely comes from Rites of Spring, but with better guitar playing and brighter guitar tone.
Surprise suprise, Comadre guitarist Jack Shirley has spent the last 15 years producing records which have push many subgenres forward. Sunbather by Deafheaven. Sway by Whirr. Of All Things I Will Soon Grow Tired by Joyce Manor. Post- by Jeff Rosenstock. Many of Jack’s records I own and adore, particularly Sway and Deafheaven’s first demo and Roads to Judah. We will in the age of paying attention to producers and showrunners. Jack is someone I check in to see what he’s working on. Check out Suburban Electric by Telethon mixed and mastered by Jack this year.
A few months back at Doc’s Records I came across Big Country’s sophomore album Steeltown in the new arrival bin of used records. Never heard this one but I love their debut album The Crossing which I found thanks to those VH1 nostalgia programs back in the 2000s. Generally presented as a forgettable 80’s one hit wonder with “In a Big Country” but certainly not to the celtic folk. My good friend Jake gave me The Crossing on vinyl one summer when we were helping clean out his garage. Jake had a bunch of solid records in storage, but The Crossing was by far the best of the bunch he gave me.
While their debut has some general themes and disputably celtic in style Steeltown focuses on the plight of Scottish workers experiencing industrial decline and moving into manufacturing cities to put food on the table. I read several accounts the album failed, relatively, in the US due to it’s unrelatable themes. Can’t say I’m surprised the American public in 1984 was woefully unaware Ronald Reagan was fucking them out of a better future. Ask all the farmers who weren’t bailed out after voting for Reagan to help them out after the US government put them in arrears.
Over 40 years later Steeltown surpasses The Crossing musically and thematically. Having not listened to their entire discography I can’t state fully informed opinion; however, consensus says it’s their best work. Lead vocalist and guitarist Stuart Adamson took his song writing and guitar playing up levels. Really underrated player I never hear mentioned like due to his early death. Adamson killed himself in December of 2001. The man battled alcoholism and clearly had personal demons. Thankfully the Scotts haven’t forgotten him or the band.
Steeltown captured the decline of the middle class, specifically in Scotland, at the same time Bruce Springsteen spoke to it here in America. I’m not sure how this material couldn’t be more relatable in 1984. It’s fucking relatable now! Few prospects to obtain a better life economically. I haven’t even scratched its other themes of anti-war, domestic violence, national and personal frustrations with society. One of the best random finds in a while for yours truly. This is way I always search through new arrivals, new or used.
Photo by Eva Vlonk
Disaesthetic 