Standing in the bowels of hell, I was able to ascend and see beauty carved from the carnage of beings and decrepit walls. This was my vision passed unto me by Lip Critic when I saw them open for Screaming Females last fall.
This band’s unique atmosphere pools from the terrible traumatic experience of their sound. It’s a horrifying and fun landscape of sound destroying anything you deem holy. Lip Critic is from NYC. The band consists of two ferocious drummers Danny Eberle and Ilan Natter with samplers Connor Kleitz and Bret Kaser (also main vocals).
An article by NME compares Lip Critic to Death Grips, one of the most well known experimental bands. I see it, but LIp Critic is their own behemoth. Way more synthy and electronic based. The lyrics are harsh, funky and certified fresh (from me).
A few past releases of theirs have been “Lip Critic II”, “Kill Lip Critic” and “Lip Critic: Truth Revealed”. They’ve released a few songs in the past couple months. Most notably for me, is “The Heart”. It’s a beautiful melody of strange abhorrent sounds. Kaser’s vocals are anxiety inducing but they also have a weird calming sensation by the end of the track.
Basically, if you’re into some weird strange noises that are a mix of spoken word, electronic BLAM and glitchy twitches, Lip Critic is a sound you’d enjoy.
Eat tongues, lips and butts and you’re basically eating a hot dog.
Cover for "La Mia Vita Violenta" by Blonde Redhead
Alternative rock band Blonde Redhead is coming to North Carolina this month. The beloved three-piece band will perform at Haw River Ballroom in Saxapahaw Feb 21.
Named after the third track on DNA’s 1981 album “A Taste of DNA,” Blonde Redhead formed in 1993 when Kazu Makino met twins Amedeo and Simone Pace in New York City.
The band’s first album, “Blonde Redhead,” debuted in 1995. My introduction to the band came from this album, namely the track “Girl Boy.”
The track Illustrates a vivid and sensory dichotomy between femininity and masculinity, furthered only by Makino’s beautiful — and heartwrenching — vocals.
Cover for “Sit Down for Dinner” by Blonde Redhead
Following “Blonde Redhead,” the band produced nine more albums. The most recent: “Sit Down for Dinner,” released Sept 2023.
The album is solid. It’s smooth, subtly romantic and interesting. While there was a clear “vibe” pervading throughout the album, each track had a distinct enough sound to maintain my attention.
While there (probably) won’t be any moshing at this show, it’s en excellent opportunity to unwind and lose yourself in beautiful, emotional music at a gorgeous venue.
Polyrock in 1980. "Polyrock" by Yurio13 is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Chances are, you’re aware of the music scene in 1970s New York City.
You’re likely aware of the rise of punk rock, new wave, and hip-hop that marked the city with critical attention. You may even know about no wave, a vital development that quietly influenced scores of artists working across genres for generations to come.
However, you may or may not be aware of one New York band who slipped under the radar of the national spotlight, and unfortunately, many of the history articles that have saturated the realm of music journalism: Polyrock.
Formed in New York in 1978 and led by frontman/guitarist Billy Robertson, Polyrock was arguably one of the first bands (at least on this side of the Atlantic) to introduce a pattern-based, sharply-angled take on the guitar music of the time, and to capitalize on the sensibilities which would soon become commonplace in the artier side of the growing post-punk and new wave movements.
However, a crucial component to the alluring story of this band is the fact that they had excellent help: production and composition assistance from none other than minimalism pioneer Philip Glass. In fact, Glass appears as a musician on their first two albums.
The influence of Glass’s school of minimalism is evident, as the repetitive motions of Polyrock’s music create a hypnotic atmosphere not dissimilar from the music in Glass’s own catalog. Evidence of Krautrock influence is also present; you can hear rhythms and sonic ideas initiated by CAN or Faust throughout Polyrock’s work, making them one of the first bands to draw these influences into the growing indie rock landscape.
The captivating layering of minimalism and rock is truly sublime, and extremely ahead of its era; similar moments and musical quotations have popped up in music decades later, in bands such as Stereolab or Osees.
Polyrock’s debut self-titled 1980 LP, though somewhat inflexible at times, nonetheless presents a worldly, justifiable cohesion found in similar projects of the era.
The chaos is vivid, and the noise is visceral; however, the rhythms are nearly club-ready, and the motorik drumming cuts through the auditory clutter like a hot knife. The fun, sharp beats pull you down into songs you may otherwise feel lost or overwhelmed in.
Polyrock is, of course, not the only group of their era to play around with this dichotomy. While often compared to New York scene brethren Talking Heads, a more apt comparison to the deeply neurotic, rigid grooves would be DEVO, or perhaps Suburban Lawns.
Their second album, “Changing Hearts”, was released in 1981 and provides a very similar backbone, with slightly diluted experimentalism. it still takes into account the lessons learned from the first Glass collaboration, but manages to successfully branch out and tone down thoughtfully. The danceable grooves remain, and the band’s formula is not left behind. However, slight moves are taken to improve the accessibility of the work; fortunately, it is apparent that these moves are not to the detriment of the album’s creative value.
For a low-key sophomore effort, it’s pleasantly surprising, and just as interesting as the band’s debut.
Polyrock was met with critical acclaim, and over time, their artistic space has become more and more revisited. However, as angular art rock pioneers, and considering their early toe-dipping into minimalism, they deserve vastly more credit for their work than they’ve received.
Shout out to North Carolina bands. We North Carolinians love when you approach our ears with songs that make us proud to be from the same state as you. Babe Haven is an excellent example of one of these bands.
They are an all female, queer punk band who originally started out in Boone (as of this 2023 Mountain Times article). The members include Naomi Poesel (guitar/ vocals), Lillie Della Penna (lead vocals), Kat Savidge (drums) and Julia Lynn (bass). Babe Haven has a few releases under their belt like their self titled EP, “Babe Haven” and “Uppercut”, which is a full length album released last year in May.
Obviously, I’m from North Carolina, so I have a little bit of bias when it comes to musicians sprouting from this state, but Babe Haven has the talent and sound to become a true North Carolina staple in the music world.
Also, Almost all these tracks are FCC inappropriate. Plug your ears if you hate cursing, dweebs.
“Babe Haven” – Released on Spotify December 3, 2021
I think of the four tracks on this release, “Bad Witch” and “Movie Night” stand out to me. This track checks all the boxes of what you want from an early release in a band’s discography as catchy, danceable and probably really fun to play live. I’d love to see this live and see how the band treats this. You can feel how much everyone is invested in the band’s sound just from this one track too, which is significant in the success of any band or any group ever – buy in.
I really enjoy the warbly guitar in this song. The lyrics are chill and in total, the track feels a little more psychedelic because of the vocals and guitar mixing together.
The opening track and the title track all wrapped into one hunky, heavy beautiful thick sound that resonates with more than my ears. It’s a holistic body experience.
This song has the best kind of corny vibe interwoven into its threads. It’s a weird dive into the writing style of this band and their minds. Babe Haven is definitely angry, but they’re doing it in a funny way. I love it.
I don’t know. This track clicks really well in my head. The opening fast paced drums and bass go vrrm and I love this feeling of heavy, heavy deep throated noise shooting down my soul. The warmth floods into my head, my stomach, just everywhere around me.
The opening guitar reminds me of Sonic Youth, another great band (I love Kim Gordon). Then the vocals hit perfectly on this track, which swept me into a beautiful fury by the end of the song.
Where’s Our Haven?
Babe Haven’s limited discography is their only downfall in my eyes. I know they do a good job of traveling the area and have done quite a bit of touring throughout the United States too. In Raleigh, they’ll be playing at the Pour House on February 23, so if you get a kick out of their sound feel free to check them out while they’re around.
I can’t wait to see where this band continues to strive towards. They have a new album coming out in the late spring called “Nuisance”.
Hog Heaven is right here in NC. Land of the best BBQ,
Even though Billy Joel is a world-renowned singer-songwriter and piano player, I only started listening to him recently. I discovered Joel through the movie “Uncut Gems”. The song “The Stranger” was included in the soundtrack. It fit well with the scene and overall was a killer track. I was intrigued and wanted to listen to the whole LP. I was not aware of it then, but it ended up becoming one of my favorite albums.
Welcome to the second installation of The Metal Minute. If you’re new to this series, I’m taking on the (impossible? delusional? moronic?) task of defining as many metal subgenres as I can.
Last time, I covered the basics of folk metal. This week, I’m shifting focus onto one of my personal favorite metal subgenres: prog.
Progressive Metal: The Foundation
To understand progressive metal, it’s important to first understand progressive rock.
Prog rock blossomed in the late 60’s and early 70’s as a way to imbue rock with “artistic” sensibilities, thus “elevating” the craft. Pretentious British intellectualism aside, the genre served as a platform for artists to subvert and ape the “archetypal” structure of rock.
Cover for “Gentle Giant” by Gentle Giant
Groups played with musical structure, tempo, timbre and instrumentation. They also incorporated experimental, classical, jazz, folk and psychedelic influences. Irregularity, complexity and melody defined the genre, paving the way for some truly amazing art.
Many sources state that progressive metal emerged in the late 80’s. What’s important to note here is the word “emerged.”
It would be inaccurate to claim that the genre “began” at a specific point in time, because prior to progressive metal’s “solidification,” the worlds of metal and prog rock had already melded several times.
In Jeff Wagner’s “Mean Deviation,” he mentions the influence of King Crimson’s 1974 album “Red,” which frontman Robert Fripp himself considered “a beautiful piece of heavy metal.”
Other groups like Led Zeppelin, Rush and Deep Purple experimented with sounds that could also be considered proto-progressive metal.
Cover for “The Verdict” by Queensrÿche
Music under the official title of “progressive metal” was spearheaded by bands like Queensrÿche, who fused the cerebral style of progressive rock with the characteristic aggression and heft of metal.
Though largely relegated to the realm of the underground well into the 90’s, progressive metal — like the genres that produced it — metamorphozed into a many-headed beast.
Rules and standards were continually established and surpassed as artists discovered new inspirations, furthered their experimentation and diverged from their peers.
As a result, it’s honestly kind of hard to lay out a concrete definition of progressive metal. But in this instance, is something concrete really necessary?
In the words of Wagner:
One thing prog metal certainly is, is metal. Hard and bold and brash, but refined, adulterated, and mutated; it is heavy metal taken somewhere illuminating and sometimes bizarre.
Jeff Wagner, “Mean Deviation: Four Decades of Progressive Heavy Metal,” pg. 19.
Progressive Metal Today
Today, the first band most people imagine when thinking of progressive metal is TOOL.
Formed in 1990, TOOL is lauded for its stylistic complexity. The band’s discography features uncommon time signatures, experimental sound and tonal effects, occultist themes and meticulous composition.
The band’s song “Lateralus” was so influential that it has its own Wikipedia page.
Songs by these artists are entrancing and multifaceted, often with several “acts” and incorporating styles from jazz, folk, psychedelic and many others.
If you’re hesitant about diving headfirst into the metal scene, prog might be a good place to start.
