THE DEVIL'S MONTH: May 2024
Rounding up some of the finest releases of the previous month - now including Andy's picks too!
Another month goes by, and music keeps being one of our only beacons of light and hope in these dark times. The world is on fire, we’re watching genocide being perpetrated with impunity and the majority take it in as easily as if it’s a bad taste soap opera. All around the world regressivism and greed keep unfolding unstoppably, fueling injustice, cruelty, bigotry and conflict. So does it matter what fucking records we’re listening to? Not in the grand scheme of things, probably, no, but hey. We’ll take all we can get right now. If you live in a place where you can still have the privilege of taking a little break from the news and the endless cycle of doomscrolling, then take a peek at this list of brilliant music for hard times that we, The Devil’s Mouth, our beautiful partners Mondo Negro and our illustrious guest, exceptional music recommender and overall splendid man Andy Cairns have prepared for you this month. And stay safe.
God Mother
Sinneseld
(self-released)
I really started paying proper attention to God Mother when I saw them live at last year’s VIVA Sounds in Gothenburg, where they absolutely destroyed the historical The Abyss venue. As I fortunately had the opportunity to tell Sebastian Campbell himself at the end of their show, I haven’t seen a frontman this unhinged and this compelling in this style of music since the lord of self-destruction on stage, Trap Them’s Ryan McKenney, was smashing mics into his forehead with gusto. Musically speaking, a similar parallel can be traced - fast, furious, chaotic and sardonic metallic hardcore is what God Mother do, so if you were ever into Trap Them, Black Breath or indeed Converge, or any good example of Entombedcore, you need to throw yourself into this with reckless abandon as soon as possible. It’s just an EP that doesn’t even reach eight minutes, but whatever, play it four times and pretend it’s an album or something. “I got big things coming!”, Sebastian screams during the delightful ‘Big Things Coming’ rager. Well, we certainly hope so.
Haunted Plasma
I
(Svart Records)
So you know that the new Oranssi Pazuzu album is around the corner, you’ve heard a little taster of what they’re going to do to us already, and yet still you want to screw your brain up even before that one hits us? Okay, fine, it’s your sanity. Put on Haunted Plasma’s debut, but be forewarned that this is a band consisting of Juho Vanhanen (Oranssi Pazuzu, Grave Pleasures), Timo Kaukolampi (K-X-P, Op:l Bastards) and Tomi Leppänen (Circle, Aavikko, K-X-P) - and as if that wasn’t enough, Mat McNerney (Hexvessel, Grave Pleasures), Pauliina Lindell (Vuono, Dust Mountain) and Ringa Manner (Ruusut, The Hearing) all contribute guest vocals. If you still want to ignore the warnings, well, rest assured that after these 40 minutes you’ll be yet another disoriented lost soul wandering the darkest corners of outer space, or your inner space, or both. I don’t know. It’s so insidious and so misleadingly easily listenable sometimes, even amidst the overall weirdness, that I also made the same mistake and listened to the whole thing, so this swirling, hypnotic and supremely creepy out-there-krautrock has screwed me up too. The Oranssi Pazuzu album will now probably dissolve what’s left of our brains into stardust when it comes out.
Righteous Underground
Out Of Place
(self-released)
I told you all about these guys and this album right here, when they were selected as Band Of The Week after a few weeks absence of that feature. It was the perfect way to return, as Righteous Underground, featuring dudes who were in Beyond Dawn and Two Trains, are pretty much everything we need from a rock band in 2024. Big riffs, intelligent lyrics, punchy songs, bitter sarcasm and an infinitely cool deadpan, we-don’t-really-care approach to it all. Let’s put it this way - if I ever get to travel the multiverse, I want to move to a version of Earth where these people are huge. On this cesspool, however, and since promotion seems to be something that happens to other people, for them, I don’t expect this to be on many end-of-year lists, but I assure you it will certainly be in mine.
Shellac
To All Trains
(Touch And Go)
Goddamn it, Steve. You couldn’t even let us enjoy this fucking album without having it now coloured by your sudden departure, could you? For someone so used to never doing what other people expected or wanted with seemingly endless delight, I suppose this is the ultimate middle finger with a smirk, right? And what’s more, this is shaping up to be one of the coolest Shellac records, which is really saying something. It’s not that it’s much different from the others, of course it’s that sharp, simple - yet never simplistic - collection of uncluttered, straight-to-the-throat hard songs, each featuring at least one titanium riff for the ages and all of them with that trademark acid bark, bellowing on about the worst of humanity and other similar subjects in a way that we are never able to gauge how serious it is, if 100% or not at all, or anything in between. Even Bob Weston sings a bit and it turns out awesome. With time, the pang of knowing this is the last one might go away a little bit and we might be able to enjoy it even more. The last one in a big, big pile of awesome music that Steve Albini either made or helped get made. “I wanna hear high voices / Singing real loud”, he yelps on ‘Chick New Wave’. Yeah, man. You sure did. Cheers, Steve.
TenHornedBeast
Capra Hircus
(Cold Spring)
After spending the ‘90s redefining dark ambient as one half of the legendary Endvra, Christopher Walton set off on his own as TenHornedBeast and has continued to do so, adding even more layers of innovation to his pieces and constantly exploring the edges and limits of ambient, drone and noise. ‘Capra Hircus’ is yet another bold step for the project, a hauntingly rural and outdoor kind of expression that seems to emanate from the soil, the grass and the animals themselves - all of this, however, without losing the sinister and slightly menacing edge that TenHornedBeast’s material always has to some degree. Less abstract and less obviously abrasive than some of his past work, this will nevertheless fully envelop the listener without great effort, firmly placing you deep in the wilderness and at one with Nature herself.
Gimic - We Are Making A New World (Crew Cuts Records)
This is straight up my favourite record for this month. Fierce, intelligent, inventive hardcore that’s intense, thrilling and totally engaging. Instruments lock in and out with each other and the guitar sound rocks without resorting to sandblasting distortion. Puts me in mind of ‘The Argument’-era Fugazi with parts of Minutemen, Dead Kennedys and Blind Eye. I can’t stop playing it.
The Jesus Lizard - Hide & Seek (Ipecac)
I was overjoyed when I found out they were putting out new music and this is a belter. Mr. Yow is on fine form and Duane Denison shows all the pretenders how it’s done with quicksilver flourishes between the sharp, agitated chords. Bring on the album.
Slab - Defibrillator (feat. The Sewer Cats) (Bandcamp)
Slab are a mostly instrumental post rock three piece from Manchester who I had the good fortune of catching live at The White Hotel, Manchester last year when they opened for JAAW. A stunning band, their track ‘Ready For The Light’ (from the EP of the same name) is a masterpiece. On this track they have vocal and lyric contributions from Cassandra Lilly from The Sewer Cats and it adds another compelling ingredient to their taut and vibrant sound.
Tongues - Feral Hands (Evil Tongue)
Seattle garage punk that reaches all the right places with blown out guitar fuzz, great vocals and a rhythm section that keeps everything moving with a swaggering momentum. ‘Brain Scrape’ and ‘Cadaver Disaster’ are highlights but the whole EP is superb.
The Body & Dis Fig - Orchards Of A Futile Heaven (Thrill Jockey)
This is wonderful. I’ve been a fan of Dis Fig since their work with Kevin Richard Martin aka The Bug on their ‘In Blue’ album. The music fizzes, flutters, spurts, spits, crackles and roars like an oncoming volcanic surge and Dis Fig veers from the spectral to the harrowing. ‘Coils Of Kaa’ has layered and manipulated vocals weave around industrial drums and builds to an arresting denouement that’s not for the faint of heart.
USA Nails - Feel Worse (One Little Independent)
Despite the Beckettian title this is a life affirming cacophony from the fantastic USA Nails. Guitars shudder and shake, bass and drums are relentless and the vocals tear through the sound. ‘Network Opportunity’ comes at you like a modern take on Big Black’s ‘Kerosene’ or ‘Passing Complexion’ and ‘On Computer Screen’ is bursting with a wealth of guitar goodness. Fantastic recording.
Thou - Umbilical (Sacred Bones)
I imagine this will be in a lot of people’s favourite picks. I could go on about the riffs, the lacerating vocals and the oppressive atmosphere and absolute total heaviness of the record but I feel that this is a record that has to be experienced rather than listened to if that makes any sense? It’s a howling sand storm of an album. ‘Panic Stricken, I Flee’ uses blackened aesthetics effectively and in a world of “ooh scary” edgelords a track like ‘Siege Perilous’ sets Thou apart as the real deal. Best listened to on headphones and in total darkness.