Surprise! I’m not writing about local or hardcore music. Instead I’m doing a small break from loud noise and focusing on Amaara.
Amaara is a moniker for “multimedia” artist, Kaelen Ohm, and “Child of Venus” is the first full length album released by Ohm. The album is a blend of pop, ethereal sounds and smooth, syrupy vocals.
“Child of Venus” was released earlier this year on July 7. I have been listening to it as soon as it popped up on my Bandcamp page because the album art looked intriguing, and I’ve been hooked ever since.
Ohm wrote, composed and produced every song on the album. She also performs vocals, synths, guitar, piano, bass and backing vocals. Ohm got some help in the percussion, and wasn’t able to do that herself. It’s extremely impressive to me to see artists able to conquer all these instruments and have tons of talent to create a whole album like this.
The album opens with “Child of Venus”, the title track, but I found this song to be way stronger and impressive. It literally opens with “a shot to the heart” and the album continues to escalate from this point (Ohm’s Lyrics on Bandcamp).
Easily a new love, akin to Lana Del Ray in vocals and vibe, but still Amaara is her own unique recipe of gooey, ghostly and good songs. The music video is a lil’ silly, but the song remains one of my favorites on this album.
Absolutely my favorite track of this whole release. The slow build up into the “Visions” half of this song really keeps me 100% involved every second of it. I love the windy road and adventure we go on by listening to this track.
Conclusions
This album’s got a few slow moments, maybe even a couple of dull ones (*cough* “Still” *cough*) – either way, I think Amaara’s got a lot of great energy going into her style and sound. I’ll absolutely keep listening to my favorite tracks and be on the constant lookout for new projects by both Amaara and Ohm herself.
Partly as a function of being a DJ and partly as a function of being neurodivergent, I spend a lot of time “crate diving” through sprawls of Spotify playlists and recommendations.
While these efforts usually lead me to simply find more songs by artists I already know (for some reason, the algorithm really wants me to listen to Joy Division’s “Disorder”), there’s also the rare (but cherished) occasion that I discover an artist unknown both to me and by many others in the scene.
This week, I’ve put together a small selection of “obscure” artists I personally enjoy in the hope of growing their listener base and giving them some much-deserved recognition.
Soma Cake
With only 900 monthly listeners, this band is probably the most obscure on this list.
Based in Reynosa, Mexico, Soma Cake walks the line between the realms of darkwave, post-punk, dreampop and jangle rock.
The band hit the scene in 2018 with the release of “Manual Para los Recién Fallecidos” (“Manual For the Recently Deceased”), which features tracks recorded between 2016 and 2017.
Cover for “Manual Para los Recién Fallecidos” by Soma Cake
This album has a distinct gothic tone, though with jangly — rather than consistently distorted — guitars.
The presence of live drums, rather than a drum machine, is also an interesting touch. And while the band makes use of synths, their end product has more of a nostalgic deathrock feel.
While “Manual Para los Recién Fallecidos” is technically the band’s first release, they consider their first “real” album to be ”Girls Bite Harder.“
Released April 2018, the album is a stark turn from its predecessor’s clear goth influence. Rather, the album is a font of dreampop, jangle and shoegaze.
My first encounter with Soma Cake came with their 2022 album “Senza,” which blends the band’s dual atmospheres — gothic and dreamy — in beautiful harmony.
With under 4,000 monthly listeners, Datura is a gothic rock band from Wentachee, Washington.
Datura draws inspiration from goth legends like The Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees and The Chameleons.
This influence can be clearly seen in their work, which has a staticy retro feel and upbeat, though still moody, vibe.
Cover for “Arcano Chemical” by Datura
The band released two EPs in 2020, followed by several singles before “Arcano Chemical,” the band’s first album, came out in 2022.
While some tracks on the album have more of an “alternative” than goth slant, there’s a consistent goth influence — distorted guitars, spectral ambience and dark lyrics — throughout.
Recommended Tracks:
“Phantasma”
“Chase”
“Sapphire”
They Feed at Night
Of the three artists I’ve presented, They Feed at Night is probably the most niche.
I’ll start out by saying that this band probably isn’t for everybody. Of all the goth subgenres, I find that deathrock is typically the least palatable for people new to the scene.
Experimental deathrock, by this summation, is even stranger.
As a lover of strange music, They Feed at Night captured my very heart with their frigid, weeping and harsh sound.
Cover for “Deprivation” by They Feed at Night
Though apparently no longer active (the band’s latest release was in 2016), the band started its career all the way back in 2009 with their debut demo “They Feed at Night.”
Taking a very literal approach to the term “deathrock,” each of the band’s tracks are angsty, frenzied and dramatic. Rough, screaming vocals meld with an accompaniment of distorted guitars.
From left, Sophia Cunningham, Erie Mitchell, Claire Conklin, Rose Kelley, Nick Pinto, Jamie Lynn Gilbert and Spencer Grattan accepted awards for Best Podcast, Best Video Promo and Best DJ at the College Broadcasters, Inc. National Student Production Awards Oct. 21 in Orlando.
NC State Student Media was honored by four different college media organizations this fall.
College Media Association (CMA), the nation’s largest organization dedicated to serving collegiate media advisers, presented individual and organizational Pinnacle awards, as well as honors in its Film and Audio Festival, at the National College Media Convention Oct. 29-Nov. 2 in Atlanta.
WKNC 88.1 FM HD-1/HD-2 won second place Radio Station of the Year in the Organizational Pinnacle awards for Division I. All Pinnacle finalists are in the Division I category for schools with an undergraduate enrollment of 10,000 or more.
Nubian Message, a biweekly publication serving NC State’s Black community, received an honorable mention for Periodic Newspaper of the Year, newspapers that publish two to three times a month. This is Nubian’s first nomination for this award.
WKNC received three Pinnacle awards in the video/audio category. KONDE Brown, a fourth-year student studying communication and the station’s 2022-2023 production manager, shares second place for Best Audio Promo/PSA with Maddy Moore, a fourth-year student in textile technology. The promo is for Moore’s “The Doghouse” DJ shift, which currently airs Fridays at 11 a.m. on WKNC 88.1 FM HD-1.
Third place for Best Audio Talk/Entertainment Program was awarded to the “On Island.” episode of “On Black.” The program, which airs every other Saturday at 11 a.m. on WKNC 88.1 FM HD-1 and is available as a podcast, is hosted by Alexis Grant, a third-year student studying material science engineering, Jeanine Ikekhua, a fourth-year student studying communication and international studies, and Hamsata Mazou, a third-year student studying business administration. In the “On Island.” episode the hosts discuss how they would structure their own island, including who would be allowed in and what rules would be established.
Carter Norfleet, a third-year student studying English-creative writing and one of WKNC’s video content creators, received an honorable mention for Best Short (sub-3 minute) Video for Entertainment, for “A Day with Art.”
Carter Norfleet’s “A Day with Art” received an honorable mention for best short (sub-3 minute) video for entertainment in CMA’s Pinnacle Awards.
Along with the Pinnacles, CMA holds a Film and Audio Festival at its convention, designed to encourage and promote excellence in student video and audio.
Katie Quesinberry, a third-year student studying chemical engineering who worked as one of WKNC’s video content creators, earned first place in the animation category. “WKNC Presents Double Barrel Benefit 19” was filmed using stop-monition animation, a package of cut-out stars from Target and a Scrabble tile set.
The Associated Collegiate Press (ACP), the largest and oldest national membership organization for college student media in the U.S., also handed out awards at the National College Media Convention Oct. 29-Nov. 2 in Atlanta.
Jermaine Hudson, a third-year student studying social work and psychology, earned fifth place in Best Yearbook Page/Spread for “The next generation of FINER women” in ACP’s Design of the Year contest. He was also awarded an honorable mention for Best Yearbook cover. Hudson was Agromeck’s design editor in 2022-2023 and currently serves as the publication’s editor-in-chief.
ACP also holds a Best of Show contest for media outlets present at their national convention. Windhover, edited by Ryley Fallon, earned fourth place in literary arts magazine at a four-year campus. Agromeck, edited by Krishna Patel, also earned fourth place in yearbook.
Jermaine Hudson (left) and Hallie Walker show off Agromeck’s fourth place certificate in the Associated Collegiate Press’s Best of Show contest held at the National College Media Convention Oct. 29-Nov. 2 in Atlanta.
WKNC also earned three awards in the College Broadcasters, Inc.’s National Student Production Awards, presented Oct. 21 at the National Student Electronic Media Convention in Orlando.
Katie Quesinberry’s “WKNC Presents Double Barrel Benefit 19” won awards for Best Video Promo in the College Broadcasters, Inc. National Student Production Awards and Best Animation in the College Media Association Film and Audio Festival.
Rosie Rose, who graduated in August 2022 with a degree in communication media, won first place for Best DJ. Rose hosted “The Riot Hours” as Rainbow Riot. Rose was previously honored in the DJ personality category of the CMA Film and Audio Festival, earning first place in 2021 and second place in 2022.
Rose Kelley, a third-year student studying political science and the station’s content manager, earned second place for Best Podcast for the “Lincoln and Liberty Too!” episode of the U.S. political history podcast “In the West Wing.” The episode explores the chaotic presidential election of 1860 in which Republican Abraham Lincoln defeated Southern Democrat John C. Breckinridge, Democrat Stephen A. Douglas and Constitutional Union candidate John Bell.
Finally, WKNC earned recognition from the College Media Business and Advertising Managers (CMBAM), a group that supports business operations for Student Media. KONDE Brown earned an honorable mention in the best audio ad/underwriting with an announcement for the NC State Institute for Advanced Analytics. It was awarded at the CMBAM annual convention Oct. 14 in Minneapolis.
Media Consultant Carter Fields (left) and Business and Marketing Adviser Zanna Swann accept an honorable mention for best audio ad/underwriting at the College Media Business and Advertising Managers convention Oct. 14 in Minneapolis.
For those unfamiliar with Baldur’s Gate 3, the game allows a player’s PC to travel in the company of several companions who seem specially-tailored to be both intensely likeable (excluding Gale) and intensely attractive.
Through gameplay and interaction, the player can learn more about these new friends (or enemies — or lovers — depending on how you swing things) and build plot-relevant relationships.
That’s all well and good, I suppose.
But beyond all the hours of carefully crafted backstory and world-building infused into BG3’s gameplay, I’m interested in imposing upon these characters my own pretentious personal ideas about music.
Nobody asked, but I will deliver.
The Selection
I digress with a brief disclaimer to highlight that this is, primarily, a joke. However, I stand wholeheartedly by all of these claims.
I also will only be covering the “main cast” of companions, so if anyone was expecting to see what kind of music Scratch or Minthara would listen to, they’ll have to decide that for themselves.
My criteria for making these assessments comes from four main factors:
Personality
Style
Canon
My personal opinions
As an English major, I have a lot of practice in the art of character analysis. As a music fan, I have a lot of experience being force-fed other people’s music opinions.
The intersection of these two realms will yield something interesting, if not accurate.
Lae’zel
Lae’zel is a Githyanki Fighter with a Soldier background. If you’re not familiar with DND, those words will mean next to nothing to you. That’s fine. All you need to know is that Lae’zel is the modern man’s tsundere.
If I’m being honest, I struggled the most with this one. Lae’zel is characterized as being both strictly no-nonsense and highly repressed, coming from a highly militaristic society.
At the same time, however, her culture has a strong musical and artistic foundation. Githyanki music is defined as highly variable, though consistently centered around metallic, harsh and strident rhythms.
Cover for “20 Jazz Funk Greats” by Throbbing Gristle
From this perspective, I think Lae’zel’s music taste would follow similar lines. I can see her enjoying weird industrial music as well as brassy jazz.
Bands I can think of that fit this kind of idiosyncratic harshness and experimental irregularity include:
I also think she’d like insanely hard, vigorous metal. Perhaps jazz-metal fusion, like Agabas.
Shadowheart
Also known as “God’s Favorite Princess,” Shadowheart is a half-elf Cleric with an Acolyte background.
I was pleased to find that despite my first impressions of her, Shadowheart has proven to be a well-written female character. I adore her, and if it wasn’t my goal to make all the companions fall in love with me, I would probably romance her.
Cover for “Punisher” by Phoebe Bridgers
All the same though, I don’t think her music taste would be all that spectacular. Though her outward personality projects pragmatism, I think she’d find music as an important emotional outlet. So, obviously, she’d be very into girlcore.
I can see her appreciating female artists, specifically. Such as:
i will preface this by stating that I am not a misandrist.
Gale is a human Wizard with a Sage background. He’s also from Waterdeep, as he’s particularly keen on mentioning.
I don’t dislike Gale, per se, but he definitely gives off an air of instability that reminds me of several uncharismatic and overly-confident men I’ve met in my life. While I’m sure that Gale is far from the “fantasy incel” I like to pretend he is for laughs, I do think he’d listen to The Smiths.
Cover for “In the Court of the Crimson King” by King Crimson
As someone who also listens to The Smiths, like recognizes like.
Gale also seems like the kind of person who would give over his heart to enigmatic, long-winded sprawls of progressive rock.
He’d probably smell like patchouli — and another fragrant herb — in real life.
Oh, man. I really do enjoy this mean, fruity little man.
Astarion is a high elf Rogue with a Charlatan background. He’s also a vampire, which despite being extremely obvious, is somehow a surprise to all the other characters.
I consider whether or not someone likes Astarion to be a sort of litmus test. For what exactly, I will not say.
Cover for “Getz/Gilberto” by Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto
Maybe it’s trite to think this, but I see Astarion as being an appreciator of classical music and soft, smooth jazz. I like to think he may even appreciate bossa nova.
He’s 200 years old and probably sick to death of the whole music business, prefering instead just to listen to what “feels nice.”
And yes, I’m fully aware that Neil Newborn has his own Astarion playlist, and that it has “Even Flow” on it.
This is my little brother’s favorite character (because warlocks are cool.)
Wyll is a human Warlock (The Fiend) with a Folk Hero background. He has a stone eye with a heart-shaped pupil, which to me signals to the fact that he’s probably the most well-adjusted companion (and character, perhaps) in the game.
Cover for “Badmotorfinger” by Soundgarden
Though he defines himself as a warrior and monster-slayer (the “Blade of Frontiers,” which is a name he apparently gave himself?), he’s inherently kindhearted and subtly dorky.
This, combined with his red-and-black fashion motif, leads me to think of him as a big fan of dad rock. He’s into alternative sounds, but only really familiar with the more topical names.
An unequivocal representation of peak female character design, Karlach is a Tiefling Barbarian with an Outlander background. She’s also got an infernal engine in her chest, which honestly only adds to her abject hotness.
Cover for “away” by Fromjoy
Karlach is a beacon to angsty ADHD girlies everywhere. While I think she’d honestly just enjoy listening to anything upbeat and fun, I also see her as particularly drawn to heavy music a la Doom Slayer. But perhaps with an emo or nu metal twist.
Rock Music Fan Club is a project originating from an Australian bedroom by an artist named Buz Clatworthy. Their most recent release, “Club Hits” was release on Nov 3, 2023. It is a full length album with a run-time of just under thirty minutes.
In terms of sound, “Club Hits” spreads its noise into an array of folky-twang, punk, and egg punk all wrapped up in a nice warm pot with a bit of water and salt to let the flavors and sounds in this album come alive.
Buz Clatworthy “writes, performs and records all of the groups output himself in his bedroom”, as it states on Discogs, and began in 2018 thanks to encouragement from a friend listening to Clatworthy’s demo. R.M.F.C (Rock Music Fan Club abbreviated) has played with notable egg punk bands like Snooper and Alien Nosejob when performing live in the past.
Below is a snippet of some words and sentences that each of these songs inspired me to write while listening to the music. To me that is the best way to communicate the emotions and sounds that I feel when listening to an album.
The short snippets of punk and classic rock n’ roll guitar fuses together to create a wonderful playful hybrid of sounds that aren’t corny or uptight. It’s like Goldilocks says, “It’s just right”.
Reminds me of a tame folky version of Sick Thoughts’ music they’ve been releasing recently; for example, “Hole in the Wall”. The jerky vocals put me on edge, but again the guitar quells my nerves and reassures me.
Like a walk in the hours after the rain has subsided in a quiet suburban night, this track puts my head at ease. The very relaxing rhythms and background noise is pleasant and delightful to my ears that usually want a harsh scream to take up residence.
Conclusion
The rest of the album that I haven’t mentioned, is of course wonderful and each song deserves its own praises here, but that’s not feasible for me to write for a blog. This is a taste of “Club Hits”. I hope I’ve whetted y’all’s appetite, and if you decide to check out R.M.F.C.’s newest album, prepare to enjoy a delightful meal for your ears.
Agabas is a 6-piece Norwegian metal band that hit the scene back in April 2023 with their debut single, “Skamklipt.”
When I first heard the track, I found it fabulously raucous. A cacophony of extremity, both through vocals and instrumentation, the single proved a striking debut for the band.
Once the song hit around the 1:40 mark, things changed when from a flurry of energetic and extreme metal, a saxophone emerged like a swarm of tweaked-out wasps.
I’ve always loved a good saxophone solo, but I never fully grasped just how sublime a marriage of rock aggression and experimental jazz would be.
Cover for “Skamklipt” by Agabas
The result was intoxicating, and not just because it scratched the itch in my attention-decifit-hyperactive brain.
Agabas doesn’t pretend to be a regular metal band.
Clad in neat slacks and buttoned-up 70s-style floral shirts, the band’s image clashes severely with its unrestrained and often hellish sound.
This fusion of aesthetics translates into the band’s work, producing a fusion of genres as the band’s extreme metal foundation is infused with experimental jazz.
The result is a “disgusting harmony” the band has called “deathjazz.”
Deathjazz
While some may argue against the band’s marriage of jazz and metal, likening deathjazz to a musical Frankenstein’s monster, I disagree. If anything, it’s a perfect match.
Anyone who really listens to jazz is fully aware that the common perception of jazz as inherently smooth and delicate — the kind of music one listens to while reading a book at a coffee shop — isn’t wholly representative of the genre.
Cover for “A Hate Supreme” by Agabas
Jazz can get wild, blurring the line between order and utter chaos, completely unrestrained by rules and stricture.
With that kind of framework, I can’t think of a better match for jazz than metal, a genre which pioneers itself on the basis of its vibrant sensations.
The allure of Agabas’ music lies in its saxophone, which takes the place of the classic “metal breakdown” to lay out a convoluted and often (pleasantly) ear-piercing slurry of notes.
Final Thoughts
Since their start in early 2023, Agabas has produced two albums.
“A Hate Supreme” came out in September while “Voluspå” was released in mid October. Both albums present a rich landscape through which Agabas continues to develop their deathjazz style.
While some people may see deathjazz as gimmicky and unoriginal, I see it as an interesting opportunity to witness the intersection of two highly elastic genres.
I look forward to seeing how Agabas changes over time, as I’m sure they will, and what this will mean for the future of metal, jazz and their newborn child.
