Cam Recommends

Ace of Spit’s new record, II, blazes by in a cacophonous twenty seven minutes. Nearly all of its ten tracks have their feet fully pressed down on the garage rock/rockabilly accelerator and while not all tracks have vocals, when they emerge, they’re sung with the appropriate wild abandon of a grease-haired hesher. That said, exactly halfway through the record, they slide in with “Parts List” which stands out for sounding so dissimilar to the rest of the project that it’s kind of breathtaking. Substituting distorted electronic drumbeats for the kit and really hammering those pedal effects until the guitar is unrecognizable, the song clatters around until it really breaks down into its component–ahem-parts for the back stretch. It’s a great little interlude that shows that Ace of Spit might have ambitions beyond their (admittedly great) other divebar-ready tunes would suggest. 

I guess I can’t really resist a song with a good accordion part but there's even more to like here from genre-smashers Lucha Luna as they blast huge reggaeton beats over delicate guitar lines and hard hitting vocals. If you can, it’s best to roll all your windows down and turn the volume waaaay up for this one. 

Marcel Sletten’s new album is an incredible work of sound manipulation and digital collage, with giant swaths of noise descending upon the listener like pieces of carved black marble. Playing like some kind of halfway point between the slowcore down-tuned guitar blasts of Sunn O))) and the neon-glow sky-high synths of Fuck Buttons, the whole record is meditatively invigorating and challenging without being punishing (indeed, Sletten provides several tracks containing more sedate vibes). The title track, “Psycho Narcissus,” is a good place to start, but, really, the whole thing is really worth your time.

Just listen to that bass riff! The snap of the strings is mixed right up close to the listener and if you like a great bassline like I do then you don’t need anything else to recommend here, just push play. But if you do need a bit more, just keep listening! The song ramps up and with very little actual amplification this band are able to kick up quite a bit of dust, coming off something like a stoner rock band playing MTV’s Unplugged (or a Tiny Desk for those not old enough to remember the former semi-institution). The singer really sells the whole bit too with just enough rasp and edge, making this not only a great bit of music to headbang to but as a fantastic opening track to a record packed with great jams.

Time to add another song to that little indie rock subgenre of “self-deprecating breakup song where I sing about how much I suck and you’re right to go on without me…but maaaaybe it’s also kinda your fault?” (See also, “The District Sleeps Alone Tonight” by The Postal Service or  “Madder Red,” by Yeasayer). Set against gentle banjo plucking and warm production with plaintive vocal stylings, it’s easy to think it’ll be a simple love song until we get to this couplet around which the entire song revolves: “I hate myself so much, you might as well hate me too. I’m a big fucking loser the best thing about me is that I still care about you.” He sings of gentle memories, compares his lover to a storm: all very romantic indeed, until he drops that little “buuuuut maybe…” line: “are you really gonna die on that hill that you couldn’t even climb?” The song, of course, comes back to its central theme (after a very Sparklehorse-worthy guitar solo) as all songs like this do, but that little kernel of doubt oozes into the rest of the song especially as it plays out without a final resolution, just letting that seeming penultimate note hang in the air.