STREAMING // (Track) Wadge – “Eat Your Children”

Listen Here – BandCamp

Track 37 of 128

Misc. Day – Split Ends

Maxo might come from a place bearing consistent sunshine like Los Angeles, but the LA native on his  2018 project SMILE is anything but the bright and forecasting poet with a promising future.

Instead, SMILE is often confused and found in that in-between space where an argument has occurred and both parties are waiting for the other person to step in and be apologetic. Maxo as a narrator here is a reliable opening with the first musical track, “Same Hoodie Since ’05.”

The production that grants bliss through these drowning and spacious stoned approaches are glossy and gives Maxo this formidable stance to hold upon. Describing on the hook, “Cause I’m a young black boy, victim of the city. Raised with his troubles, raised with the gritty. Out there on the block, juggin’ selling work. He don’t know his worth now he murked.”

This dichotomy that Maxo gives off on much of his music and sound on SMILE is like being depressed and cold in a land of warmth and light. Giving these deliveries that are more broken and seem to be overwhelmed rather than comfortable could relate to someone dwelling in a major city more.

Especially on the track “Gold Man” where instrumentation is like butter to a hot knife. The sampled choir-esque vocals are able to be soulful and truly give Maxo more than just concrete to stand upon. He floats above the production for a moment as this near minute-and-a-half of time is spent reflecting to the growth and style he adopted to through sonic command.

He describes, “My granny said ‘Maxo, boy you special I know it.’ Look in her face, stare blank, eyes low off the potent. My pride glow when I show it, I wear my heart up on my sleeve til I know I’mma fold in.” As the simple click of eighth notes becomes swamped under the incoming use of claps on “Nickel To A Dime,” Maxo fades out into a crawling digression of deconstruction.

Taking “His & Hers” as one of the last tracks of SMILE, the sporadic and ambiguous flow of the instrumentation is like a panic attack in the middle of Manhattan. With sounds all around and no clear direction, Maxo takes the confusion and uses spoken word from a new narrator, illustrating more about the misdirection of relationships and failed partnerships.

But the sun does eventually spring and Maxo delivers a perfected record to slump over to. Between his performance and lack of childishness, SMILE is a bright face hidden behind walls of shattered and clouded emotions.

Listen To SMILE Here!!! – Spotify/Amazon/iTunes

SUNDAY SAMPLER // (Playlist) “07/11/2021″

Listen Here – Spotify

“A playlist of tracks that were featured on MattsMusicMine.com from the week of July 5th – 11th. From Reviews to Streams, never miss a track with these playlists that are uploaded every single Sunday till I drop dead.”

Featuring: Pink Siifu, Fly Anakin, Chuck Strangers, Fedd The God, Jimmy Wopo, Kangding Ray, Mastiff, Evidence, Boldy James, Cherry Cheeks, DEVO, Fawn Limbs, Hellish Form, Max Cooper, Snuffed On Sight, Backxwash, Ada Rook, Ancient Tome, Amyl And The Sniffers, Jinjer, Cessation

Track List: Oatmeal, Blame, Friday, Branches, Endless, All Of That Said, Boxes, Girl U Want, Freedom Of Choice, Twitching Lapsing, Ache, Leaving This Place, Blunt Cough, I LIE HERE BURIED WITH MY RINGS AND MY DRESSES, 666 IN LUXAXA, Choleric, Guided By Angels, Vortex, Abyss Of Desolation

STREAMING // (Video) Amyl And The Sniffers – “Guided By Angels”

Listen/Watch Here – Youtube

Shot + Directed By: John Angus Stewart

Produced By: Max Coles

1st Assistant Director: Euan Kelly

1st Assistant Camera: Ashley Goodall, Maree Prokos, Finn Stewart, + Euan Kelly

Focus Puller: Ashley Goodall

Editing + Colour Grading: John Angus Stewart

Still Photography: Jamie Wdziekonski

New Music – Nowhere To Run

Encased in the ice and hidden beneath the snow flurries of Montreal, Backxwash takes a momentary step back, further adapting into becoming the maiden of the tundra through darkened, industrial beats and delivery.

Tracks like “PURPOSE OF PAIN” are entirely based on the eeriness of repetitive hauntings where a spoken-word vocal with no instrumental describes to an audience, a human response to physical damage. Saying, “The purpose of pain is to get our attention that something is wrong, protect us from further damage and to request care.” The voice begins to overlap as it describes, “It’s in this sense that a little bit of pain is a good thing,” becoming more and more sinister as time continues on.

Through a majority of I LIE HERE BURIED WITH MY RINGS AND MY DRESSES, Backxwash takes the better influences like Death Grips and Nine Inch Nails as the foundation; then puts a more broken emotional flair to them. Similar to the self-titled track ”I LIE HERE BURIED WITH MY RINGS AND MY DRESSES” demands to be heard and can no longer be ignored with the feature from Ada Rook.

Quickly, Backxwash capitalizes off the demonic vocals from Rook while the production becomes this industrial crawl through a metallic mud. Rook illustrates forming the basis of the hook, “Empty, alone, waiting, everything that didn’t kill me. Set me adrift between, run away, no destination.”

When Backxwash finally jumps into the track, “I LIE HERE BURIED WITH MY RINGS AND MY DRESSES” takes the audience into this systematic and uniform beating where much of the little hope that resides is gone. Backxwash orchestrates these harsh hellscapes to survive in and somehow thrive in while describing, “My only reason for being locked in submission or caught off religion, is born as part of the system. I see the holy scriptures, politics on the women, the prodigies and ambition.”

Much of the tracks present on I LIE HERE BURIED WITH MY RINGS AND MY DRESSES are fully produced by Backxwash and their production is immaculate on the track “666 IN LUXAXA” where the instrumental alone is explosive enough to blow up half of Québec.

When the 808 hits here, Backxwash stands almost like a blackened monument of these trap and Yeezus styled sampling with these African chants that quickly create a trance for the audience to fall into. When the guard is down, Backxwash delivers a quick verse, but ultimately is efficient with the time that she has.

She orchestrates like a sadistic maestro, “They came up from the darkness stole my people from me, now was the mission holy? Exorcise through weapons only.” As the chanting hits these peaks of repetition and forming an iron grasp on the audience, Backxwash continues on, “Pray to the crosses, I swear to Jesus. It’s better than all this. Segregate the people leave em with no food to eat.”

Sweeping like a plague through the countryside, Backxwash is horrifying at times and can be a real villain of the sonic nature. Instead of destroying crops and celebrating the witching hour on a town, I LIE HERE BURIED WITH MY RINGS AND MY DRESSES takes the hand of the audience and introduces them to real industrial fear.

Listen To I LIE HERE BURIED WITH MY RINGS AND MY DRESSES Here!!! – BandCamp/Spotify/iTunes

STREAMING // (Album) Snuffed On Sight – “Self-Titled”

Listen Here – BandCamp

Vocals + Guitars: Seven Kane

Bass: Shoeless Shane

Drums: Kendric Di Stephano

Mixed + Mastered By: Charles Toshio

Track List: No Clown Shit, Blunt Cough, On Ya Neck, All Talk

STREAMING // (Album) Graymatter – “DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY: GRAYMATTER EDITION DISC 1”

Listen Here – BandCamp

Track List: DIPSET ANTHEM, BEAUTIFUL MUSIC, GROUND ZERO, RAL ******* // HELL RELL FREESTYLE, THIS IS WHAT I DO, GANGSTA, WHO I AM, HEY MA (REMIX), MORE THAN MUSIC, UN KASA

Classic Day – De-Humanizer

Well on their way into being the trailblazers of the 1980s, DEVO could attach themselves as the band of both the future that is encapsulated by the past. With glistening synths and catchy production, Freedom Of Choice is a monster for jumping into becoming a personal favorite for the rubberized jam band.

Opening with “Girl U Want,” DEVO makes a Fastbreak with the rambunctious plucking guitar strings and strange, almost candied synthesizer rolls. Underneath is the percussion handled directly by Alan Myers, the only non-related member of DEVO. The other pair is Mark Mothersbaugh on lead vocals, keyboards, and guitars. Alongside is his brother Bob Mothersbaugh on the guitar and backing vocals, giving Greg Casale the lead/backing vocals, bass, and keyboard sections. His brother Bob Casale covers the guitar, keyboards, and vocals, making Freedom Of Choice this pentagon of new wave adventure.

Tracks like “Whip It” are well known as a showcase for just how popular the strange can be in DEVO’s discography, but other tracks like the title-cut “Freedom Of Choice” need to be highlighted because they introduce industrial tactics before the genre was created. The stomping metallic bass that reflects like a hammer on sheet metal gives the foundation, then as DEVO joins in over, the band is catchy and continues to snatch the ear.

Describing, “Then if you got it, you don’t want it. Seems to be the rule of thumb, don’t be tricked by what you see. You got two ways to go.” The chorus picks up to be more of a coalition as Mothersbaugh illustrates, “I’ll say it again in the land of the free. Use your freedom of choice, freedom of choice.”

The record Freedom Of Choice plays best when kept as a placeholder for the cylinder and constructed hats that the band would dawn for this record. The all-black jumpsuits that reflected mystic men of the future come out to push an agenda with the track “That’s Pep!” where DEVO is able to harmonize over what appears again as industrial foregrounds.

The harsh warping synths resemble something out of 70’s stoner rock while the chimes hit like rain on a tin roof and give this golden standard of mixing the strange with the pop.

DEVO comes into the 1980s bearing more than just the red hats, they give an image into the experimental style that many other bands would follow and try to recreate with Freedom Of Choice. While still more odd than mainstream, the band found a vein to fall into and a way to intrude television sets using your Freedom Of Choice.

Listen To Freedom Of Choice Here!!! – Spotify/Amazon/iTunes