My desire to write has been… diminished, as of late. I write for a living outside of this newsletter, and the name of the game this year has been to produce more, faster, at a higher quality, using non-functional tools. It’s going as smoothly as you might imagine.
Blessedly, I don’t have to do that here. So for the much delayed first Apotheosis newsletter of the year, I’m letting the wind guide me. Since so much of my day-to-day writing is dictated by structure, I want this place to be guided by whim. There will likely still be sections and whatnot, it’ll just look a bit different than your usual “here’s some good things from [month].”
I hope you all enjoy this new format. I hope I enjoy it too.
Turns Out Jazz is Cool
I ended 2023 and began 2024 in the same way, playing Cyberpunk 2077. The game itself bears many heavy metal hallmarks, being based on a tabletop RPG (simply titled Cyberpunk) from the 80’s. It’s chock full of power metal references, rockerboy terrorists, gore, guns, murder, and body modification.
Despite the obvious metal associations in the game, I found myself tuned to the jazz station as I drove around Night City. Its often soothing selection of tracks served as a welcome change of pace between frenetic battles and glitched out combat music. At first, I tuned to the station for that shake-up, but before long I was hoping to hear certain tracks by Chet Baker and Charles Mingus. A few weeks later, I had CD’s for both artists in my cart at the record store.
Shortly after finishing the game, I went with a friend to see Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, during its brief return to theaters. The cyberpunk western is widely appreciated for its excellent jazz score, careful animation, and mastery of tone. About 10 minutes into the movie, an obvious thought struck me, “Jazz is really cool.”
Frankly, I’m not sure how it escaped me. My brother did jazz drums in high school, and I’m no stranger to the genre. I guess it felt like something for older people, or something that, with limited exception, wasn’t being made (at least in any important manner) today. The wise Patrick Star once said, “You’re a man now, and it’s time you started acting like one. Now you must acquire a taste for free form jazz.” Maybe, I’m just becoming an adult.
K-Pop Has the US in Shambles
Over the past six months or so, my wife has developed an undying love for K-pop. Specifically, they’re over the moon for a group named Stray Kids. At first, being me, I had no major opinion beyond “this probably isn’t for me.” It didn’t take long for me to recant my gut feelings.
K-Pop is, to my surprise, quite good actually? Compared to a lot of western pop, there’s a kinetic thrust to the music that leans into the starry lights rather than downplay it for sinCeRiTy. In a lot of ways, it reminds me of pop music from Y2K, but with the glossier, cleaner production of the 2020s’.
I’m clearly not the only one who thinks this. According to Luminate, K-pop listenership is up, comprising 3.5% of streams this past year) worldwide, while English language pop (for anyone not named Taylor Swift) is down to just 54.9% of streams this year. Stray Kids also netted two sports on the US top CD album sales list. All I know for sure is that Standing Next To You by Jung Kook is very good, and the streaming audience at large is seeing language as less of a barrier to entry than in previous years.
Spanish and Portuguese Metal is Kicking Our Ass
Over the holidays and throughout most of January, I tend to revisit some albums. The release slate is very light during this time of year, so it’s a good chance to let my heart guide me towards things I’ll keep listening to, instead of just things that are supposed to be good. Lately, I’ve found myself listening to a lot more Spanish and Portuguese metal.
This revelation actually struck me when I was listening to the latest album by Santacreu, a Catalonian doom/post-metal outfit (they sing in Catalan, which I know is not Spanish, but let me generalize a bit here, I won’t start an international incident in my metal newsletter). The music had grander aspirations than “how loud can I be” and “how sick can I make this riff.” Now, I want to be clear that those aspirations are perfectly fine, some of the greatest and most important albums of our time have been borne out of those pursuits (hi Electric Wizard). Still, I like some drama in my metal, and Cançons d'Amor, Dol i Enyorança brought heaps of it.
Santacreu wasn’t the only band I thought of though. I returned to favorites from Kaatayra (a brilliant Brazilian folk-black metal band with the only acoustic black metal album that I’m aware of), Ox En Mayo Alto (Argentine post-rock/math-rock), and Bríi (electronic tinged side project of the Kaatayra guy). They’re all great, and honestly, way more progressive than (almost) any metal I’ve heard in the English language lately.
All I know for sure is we need to step up our game. We’ve got a few contenders on our side, like Panopticon, but go listen to Inpariquipê and tell me the last time you heard anything that fresh.
Some Music of Value
I’m changing this section a lot. Writing a whole breakdown of an album I have listened to once or twice isn’t very fun, and feels disingenuous at best. I’m just gonna hit you all with some quick recommendations and a mini blurb.
Skullflower - IIIrd Gatekeeper: Noisy droning chaos full of compelling patterns and textures. Recommended for fans of noisy shoegaze and Earth.
Sleater-Kinney - Little Rope: Rumbling, kinetic pop-rock that has enough noise to satisfy and enough coherent production to hold it together.
glass beach - plastic death: Big, adventurous, playful and dramatic. Tinges of post rock, periodically proggy. A dream journey sort of record.
Santacreu - Cançons d'Amor, Dol i Enyorança: Aforementioned hulking post-metal record. Excellent guitar tone, ever changing song structures. Triumphant vocals.
Burial - Dreamfear/Boy Sent From Above: Burial reminds you that he is more than just the sleepy semi-ambient that he’s been creating the past several years. Imbued with life, grit, and designed for a sweaty club.
Meth. - SHAME: Humongous, grimy, brutal, sludge metal record. Perfect for people who want more Thou, Chat Pile, and Exhalants in their lives.
Little Simz - Drop 7: Brisk hip-hop project filled with great bars, freewheeling beats, and a sense of lightness.
Persher - Sleep Well: Bristling walls of electronic sound accompanied by massive toms and distorted screams. Kind of like the doom metal version of Fire-Toolz?
Well, thank you all for reading my new attempt at this newsletter. I know it’s evolved a lot and comes out intermittently, so I appreciate anyone who has stuck with this off the cuff and completely unedited little project.
As always, if you found something you liked, or know of something I should check out, drop a comment or text me. Half of you have my phone number.
Hopefully the next one doesn’t take quite so long to make it to your inbox.