Cam Recommends

A slacker ode from one of the best indie-pop songwriters working today, “Didn’t” is a clear highlight from illuminati hotties’ latest full-length. Seemingly in dialogue with a previous album highlight from 2020, Free I.H.’s mini-epic “content//bedtime,” in which she sings of the modern freelance media creator grind (“Everyone likes keeping the best shot for the content”), including the ever-present co-branding opportunities (a custom website? Bowls of Illuminati Hot-O’s?), her new collaboration with Tumblr-beloved Cavetown shows another possibility: what if she just…didn’t? “You know I’m so unenthused, I don’t want to. What if I just didn’t?” she sings simply. Instead of the grind and producing endless content, as was the clarion call of early pandemic life, she imagines a better future—one in which, if we don’t find value in doing something, we can just pass on it.

Hailing from Norway, this four-piece has named their second album after the genre they both play and coined, which combines influences of classic metal from the ’70s and spaced-out desert/stoner rock of the ’90s into an electrifying sonic mix known as Tundra Rock. That description gets you most of the way there: vocals are often double-tracked like Ozzy-lead Black Sabbath, drumming is hypnotic and heavy like old Kyuss jams, and riffs are alternately pounding and melodic, pausing occasionally for dreamy moments of bliss like early QOTSA. There’s also a distinctly Scandinavian sense of shaggy perfectionism here: the production is clean and sheer, but the playing is loose enough to allow for moments of unpredictability. I can imagine Slomosa easily playing heavier covers from Sweden’s The Radio Dept. They even invoke some The Argument-era Fugazi with the mid-album instrumental “Good Mourning” transitioning into the thundering “Battling Guns.” 

And speaking of which, while all these songs rip (seriously, not a single dud in the bunch), I think “Battling Guns” is the clear standout. Hooky, heavy, and featuring a stellar bass solo (we love a good bass player around these parts), it’s been on repeat since the first listen. The video for it is also an exciting watch and demonstrates the easy rapport between these musicians that bodes well for their future career. It’s also refreshingly political, with the band showing support for the people of Gaza, who have been subjected to the kind of violence and terror flashed on screen—acknowledging, of course, the absurdity and horror of all war, especially the kind perpetuated by colonialist powers. While the mushroom cloud has long been an extreme image that many hard rock bands have deployed for simple shock value, here, where the band ends the video eating watermelon in silence, the threat of nuclear annihilation seems apt. And while I’m stoked to read that the band seems to be in this for the long haul (when asked in a recent interview if they could be in any band at any time in history, the bassist replied, “No, I just want to be in Slomosa,” to which the lead singer chimed in, “Slomosa in 2050”), they’ve already released a stone-cold classic. Dim the lights, light some incense, turn up the bass and put this bad boy on—you won’t regret it.

Sometimes you just need a comforting warm blanket of a club anthem. And HNNY’s “I’ll Come Your Way” delivers in spades. The inviting vocal refrain soothes and repeats, tweaked up and around washes of synth strings and a pleasantly shuffling beat. As it builds to its twinkling climax, it sounds like the first rays of the sun after a long, hard night. If you're looking for a mood and energy boost, then I can’t think of a quicker fix.

Man, sometimes you really can judge a book by its cover, huh? Or, in this case, an album by its sleeve art. Just take a look at all of the elements at play here. The record? Tropical Disco. The track name? “Moon Castle.” Album art? A kaleidoscopic view of dozens of golden disco balls floating in a starry void. The band name? Starwolf. Got all that?

Now imagine what it sounds like and you’re probably right. Are there crisp, Chic-era guitars? Of course. A flute solo? You bet. An unrelenting funky groove? Check. Reminding me of nothing short of the promise of Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories (that of modern electronic filtered through the sparkling hi-fi analogue recording practices and philosophies of ’70s disco, funk, and R&B) but coming to completely different conclusions than our helmeted French duo. It’s a party and a blast for sure, but “Moon Castle” glides along on a krautrock-y vibe that’s just short of menacing and doesn’t let you go for a second of its 5-minute running time. At this point, no other song on the album has quite taken me or announced such a clear mission statement as this track, but Starwolf are definitely worth keeping an eye on.

The penultimate track of an album that was apparently written and recorded in a sweaty and anxious 72 hours, Ben Seretan’s “Free” is a tour-de-force featuring spiky, slightly folk-y guitar licks, a driving extended mid-section instrumental breakdown, plaintive lyrics, and an all-around intensity of purpose that’s intoxicating. Reading Seretan’s bio certainly cues you into the fact that the man is a prodigious worker (not only does his discography feature novelties like a 24-hour-long record, but he also releases a new song every week, not to mention numerous other projects). Though I haven’t (yet) heard much beyond the album from which this song hails, titled Allora, it’s obvious he also cares deeply about the craft. Each repeated listen reveals more layers, and it’s certainly one of the quickest ways to spend 8 minutes you’ll have this week.

So. Welcome to the start of a new project! If you know me, you know I love music. And, if you know me, you've certainly been on the receiving end of some of my recommendations. A number of years ago I started writing up year-end music lists detailing my favorite music of that particular year. I have been finding so much good music recently that I don’t think I’m going to be able to really do a year-end list justice. The fact of the matter is there’s just too much to consider and the thing I most value about doing any kind of public-facing writing on music is that of being able to share something that might affect someone else as much as it has affected me. And as I’ve tried to be a more and more voracious music-listener I think I’d like to share more often what I’ve been appreciating. 

To that end, I’m going to embark on a weekly recommendations series. I’ll hold myself to posting at least once a week. To start I’ll usually post about a song or album and I also want to reserve some space for music that’s not necessarily new. I haven’t been all that great at revisiting older albums (even ones I’ve loved; and especially ones I put off engaging with for a long time) especially in the context of a year-end list so this series leaves some room for that. 

Oh yeah, and I’ll keep a constantly updating playlist (which you can find on Spotify here). I don’t think I’ll add whole albums though so I’ll do my best, when I do talk about albums, to find one or two representative songs. I want to try to push myself to keep writing, keep listening and keep sharing. I hope you enjoy.