Rec
I first heard Combat Baby from this very album in my late teens — it carried a weight of melancholy that pulled me in from the sadness itself.
That urge to dance even when your heart is hanging by the last thread.
I stumbled back into it this week.
Listening to it now, I recognize it as a defining reference in my own sound. The use of piano and other keys alongside raw, unprocessed synths puts all the weight on the harmony — a harmony that forces me to leave behind that old world underground. You won’t find it anymore.
Listening to it now, I recognize it as a defining reference in my own sound. The use of piano and other keys alongside raw, unprocessed synths puts all the weight on the harmony — a harmony that forces me to leave behind that old world underground. You won’t find it anymore.
2d ago
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I was obsesssssssssed with this album as a kid, my dad was too. we saw them in Portland in like 2007 and crystal castles opened for them, it was extremely formative for me
this album is sensational– it's so unique. combat baby is beautiful and dead disco is another favourite of mine from this album ✨
2d ago
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(Aka what it sounds like when the Cure do the Cure)
Sixteen years after their last album, Robert Smith & Co. have returned on their own (admittedly, glacial) terms. They sound regal, exhausted, and deliciously slow, wrestling with mortality and doubt in a way that's perfectly suited to the Cure (and reminds me more than just a little of David Bowie's final work, "Blackstar," which focused on the same endgame subjects in a similarly "top of their game" sort of way right at the end of his life). I first heard the track linked here, "And Nothing Is Forever," on last year's Cure tour of the U.S. (which I wrote about for Magnet here) and it reminds me that -- unlike, say, the Stones -- Smith has never felt the need to flex for the sake of proving his youthful virility. If anything, the Cure was always adult-before-their-time, sounding world-weary and sick of it all long before goth made that a core brand attribute. I love this album more than anything the band has done since 1989's "Disintegration," which saw Smith retreating from fame and popularity through the copious use of hallucinogens, which greatly influenced the sound of that record. What is the feeling of pending death if not the world's most powerful psychotropic drug? The Cure have been and shall always be one of THE bands for me. "There is none blacker," as the joke goes. All hail the dark lords of pop, as magisterial and mysterious as ever. 👑
Nov 1, 2024
Rec
💧"Why would you make out of words a cage for your own bird?
When it sings so sweet
The screaming, heaving fuckery of the world?"
the crooner's sophomore outing, finding beauty and hope amidst the end of the world
loved unreal unearth, loved the debut. but if you ask me, this is his strongest album. there's something about the imagery invoked in this album that is so specific, but feels so unique to him. that underwater cover art kinda encompasses that; normally when we think of wastelands, its just dry nothingness for miles. but this feels very "noah's ark flood" end of the world. the calm before the storm, the storm, and the aftermath
the VOCALS on this thing go apeshit btw
this also just has some of my favorite songs of his. MOVEMENT is criminally slept on. shrike is so bittersweet and beautiful. dinner & diatribes and almost (sweet music) are absolute jams. talk...? TALK?!! jesus christ. i can't listen to the title track without weeping. there's such a melancholy that almost makes me sick but it's like...the hug you'd want from a loved one as the world caves in
good time😃! emotional damage😃! have fun😃!
the crooner's sophomore outing, finding beauty and hope amidst the end of the world
loved unreal unearth, loved the debut. but if you ask me, this is his strongest album. there's something about the imagery invoked in this album that is so specific, but feels so unique to him. that underwater cover art kinda encompasses that; normally when we think of wastelands, its just dry nothingness for miles. but this feels very "noah's ark flood" end of the world. the calm before the storm, the storm, and the aftermath
the VOCALS on this thing go apeshit btw
this also just has some of my favorite songs of his. MOVEMENT is criminally slept on. shrike is so bittersweet and beautiful. dinner & diatribes and almost (sweet music) are absolute jams. talk...? TALK?!! jesus christ. i can't listen to the title track without weeping. there's such a melancholy that almost makes me sick but it's like...the hug you'd want from a loved one as the world caves in
good time😃! emotional damage😃! have fun😃!
Rec
⭐In March of 2023 I was on tour with my band Trophy Wife. We had just played a set on the second date in a dingy hardcore bar in Philly that was selling microwaved White Castle sliders and packs of American Spirit for cheap. Ahead of us was a 17 hour drive to New Orleans that would have to be made in one day.
I woke up in the backseat somewhere in between and leaned my head on the window beside me. It was pitch black but before sunrise. The road becomes something different when you're traveling for that long, resembling more of a habitat than a construct with its own set of strict rules and guidelines. In the dark, protected by the shell of a Honda CRV, I would watch the trucks pass by like behemoth steed; big iron whales, and I am so small.
'Wooly Mammoth's Absence' became gospel during that drive. I found it before we left, sometime during our day in Philly when I was getting ready for the show. I listened alone at first, the woody nylon guitars and hushed words of Phil Elverum were a trusted secret for my ears only. Once I showed it to them we discovered multiple versions of the song that were released over the years, my favorite of which is the first one I heard, from 'Seven New Songs'. It was a perfect companion; something wiser than me that kept me moving forward, like the only torch in a dungeon.
"Quickly forgotten was this forgetful way of life, when I left home and I lived as if I had died" he still sings quietly, and only for me.
I woke up in the backseat somewhere in between and leaned my head on the window beside me. It was pitch black but before sunrise. The road becomes something different when you're traveling for that long, resembling more of a habitat than a construct with its own set of strict rules and guidelines. In the dark, protected by the shell of a Honda CRV, I would watch the trucks pass by like behemoth steed; big iron whales, and I am so small.
'Wooly Mammoth's Absence' became gospel during that drive. I found it before we left, sometime during our day in Philly when I was getting ready for the show. I listened alone at first, the woody nylon guitars and hushed words of Phil Elverum were a trusted secret for my ears only. Once I showed it to them we discovered multiple versions of the song that were released over the years, my favorite of which is the first one I heard, from 'Seven New Songs'. It was a perfect companion; something wiser than me that kept me moving forward, like the only torch in a dungeon.
"Quickly forgotten was this forgetful way of life, when I left home and I lived as if I had died" he still sings quietly, and only for me.
Jan 26, 2024
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First time you hop into a Berlin photoautomat, you’ve got no clue what it’s gonna sound like or how fast the flashes are gonna hit.
It’s got this little rush to it, kinda feels like a leftover from a techno night.
It’s got this little rush to it, kinda feels like a leftover from a techno night.
Jun 24, 2025
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✋I’m not sure if it’s the design of this site, but it reminds me of the early days of the internet — when haters didn’t exist the way we know them now.
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1d ago