explodingNOW!!! cultural popcorn

Colour Revolt
Plunder, Beg, and Curse
[Fat Possum/Apr 1]

I have been looking forward to Colour Revolt’s first full-length ever since hearing their self-titled EP a few years ago, and this release delivers on all counts. The raw, abrasive attitude of the EP has been slightly toned down in favor of a muddier, more introspective tone — lending the record a mature, slow-paced drawl that snakes around like a dirty southern creek littered with weeds and leeches. Yet, this subtle shift in songwriting enhances the band’s strengths even moreso, resulting in a strong record that reveals more of its secrets with each successive listen.

High point: A Siren

RIYL: Kings of Leon, We Barbarians, My Morning Jacket, Okkervil River

Dudes & dudettes, I am sure you can agree that there’s something magical about listening to a sad song in a thunderstorm. Here are my favorites. Enjoy:

Psychotica - 180º
[Psychotica/1996]

This seminal goth band’s debut album was a mainstay on my playlist back in high school. “180º”, in particular, is a grand foray into industrial goth androgyny.

180º

The Sound - Winning
[From the Lion’s Mouth/1986]

Post-punk pioneers The Sound were unfortunately overlooked due to the successes of Joy Division, New Order, Echo & the Bunnymen and others. Nevertheless, they released some chilling, hopeless music that used to send shivers up my spine when I would go for walks at 3 a.m. through my empty town of rural suburbia.

Winning

The Music - Getaway
[The Music/2002]

The Music’s masterpiece, “Getaway”, from their self-titled debut, is a rain-soaked anthem of intense, thunderous guitars and wailing vocal pleas that never fail to make my blood boil.

Getaway

Dimbodius - Breaking You
[While We Fall/2004]

“Breaking You” is a sprawling, hypnotic cadence of desparation and dejection. Afloat in dreary reverb and steady electronic backbeats are passionately slow vocals that evolve and devolve like a thunderstorm in and of themselves.

Breaking You

M83 - Unrecorded
[Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts/2003]

M83’s gorgeous debut surprised everyone with its intricate electronic homages to My Bloody Valentine, and this epic instrumental cascade of synth-soaked melody is a perfect introduction. “Unrecorded” could probably start a rainstorm by itself if played loud enough.

Unrecorded

Optiganally Yours - Oar
[Exclusively Talentmaker!/2000]

Rob Crowe hid this little gem on an obscure side project, deftly ensuring a treasure trove of happy-to-be-sadness for anyone lucky enough to discover it. This track is quite possibly the most depressing I have ever listened to, yet two weeks of listening to it on repeat very possibly saved my life once upon a time.

Oar

Team Sleep - Your Skull is Red
[Team Sleep/2005]

Chino Moreno’s superhuman vocals lust over a stunning display of passion and melody that never let up even when bordering on mesmeric implosion. “Your Skull is Red” displays Moreno at the height of his game.

Your Skull is Red

ohGr - JaKO
[SunnyPsyOp/2003]

The side project of Nivek Ogre (of Skinny Puppy fame) harnesses a dark, pulsating energy that exhibits a mature grasp of industrial atmospherics and elegiac melody. Perfect to listen to during a midnight storm.

JaKO

The Church - Under the Milky Way
[Starfish/1988]

The Church’s greatest moment (utilized perfectly in Donnie Darko) is quite possibly the saddest, most demoralized song ever written. Steve Kilbey’s wistful vocals float so dismally in the surrounding sea of delicate guitar chords and shivering atmospherics, turning everything nearby to frozen gloom.

Under the Milky Way

The Boxer Rebellion - Never Knowing How or Why
[Exits/2005]

The Boxer Rebellion’s debut is a chilling assemblage of Sigur Rossian vocals and droning soundscapes that make for a perfect soundtrack to a rainy afternoon.

Never Knowing How or Why

The Organ - Memorize the City
[Grab That Gun/2004]

This now-defunct all-girl Canadian band has released some of the most depressing music of the decade. “Memorize the City” is a pulsating journey through the empty, rain-soaked streets of desolation, brilliantly harnessing the band’s namesake to add texture to the icy cold guitar passages.

Memorize the City

Ra Ra Riot - Ghost Under Rocks
[Ra Ra Riot EP/2007]

Perhaps made even more surreal by the recent death of drummer John Pike, “Ghost Under Rocks” is a dazzling track that weaves and winds through a landscape of anguish, refusing to release its deathgrip of emotions.

Ghost Under Rocks

Ellen Allien & Apparat - Way Out
[Orchestra of Bubbles/2006]

Ellen Allien’s collaboration with Apparat showcased a beautifully produced set of moody electronica, most notably this masterpiece, which mixes Allien’s evocative vocals with a backdrop of hammering beats and synthy melodies.

Way Out

The Raveonettes - Lust
[Lust Lust Lust/2007]

Drenched in reverb and moving along at a sexy, hypnotizing crawl, “Lust” is the perfect backdrop for a canvas of gentle rain on an otherwise silent Sunday afternoon.

Lust

The Dandy Warhols - Good Morning
[Come Down/1997]

This classic Dandy Warhols’ track is a druggy meditation of droning guitars topped with Courtney Taylor-Taylor’s typically lackadaisical vocals, relenting only after a brilliant guitar solo crescendo.

Good Morning

New Order - Crystal
[Get Ready/2001]

Possibly the greatest song New Order has ever recorded, “Crystal” is nothing short of an anthem for driving fast in the rain. Bernard Sumner’s melodic vocals have never sounded so intense with the accompanying keyboards and throbbing bassline.

Crystal

The Big Sleep - Sleep Forever
[Sleep Forever/2008]

The title track of The Big Sleep’s latest record is a perfect album closer, awash in shoegazy guitars and wailing vocals, like a massive summer thunderstorm.

Sleep Forever

The Get Up Kids - Like a Man Possessed
[Another Year on the Streets, Vol. 3/2004]

One of The Get Up Kids’ softer, more introspective moments (which makes a jawdropping appearance on an episode of One Tree Hill), “Like a Man Possessed” combines a restrained tempo with melodic guitarscapes and a vigorous breakdown.

Like a Man Possessed

Denali - The Instinct
[The Instinct/2003]

Maura Davis’s classically trained vocals have never sounded as frozen and hopeless as they do on this Denali song — backed by steady, electronic drums and cacophonous guitars, this track was my only solace for weeks following my grandpa’s death a few years ago.

The Instinct

Radiohead - Where I End + You Begin
[Hail to the Thief/2003]

Radiohead’s “Where I End + You Begin” is a staggering kaleidoscope of haunting atmospherics and discordant guitars that perfectly compliment Thom York’s manic vocal stylings, creating a sort of bi-polar mood that never fails to clone the feelings I was having in 2003 when I first heard it.

Where I End + You Begin

Starflyer 59 - Too Much Fun
[The Fashion Focus/1998]

The epic wall of guitars that is “Too Much Fun” is not only the greatest song ever recorded, but perhaps the moodiest I have ever listened to. At almost 8 minutes long, there simply is no better song to listen to during a tumultuous flood. Period.

Too Much Fun

Sound Team - TV Torso
[Movie Monster/2006]

Sound Team’s “TV Torso” is a steadily escalating, trance-inducing track that continuously gains steam like a feverish locomotive, uncompromising in its despair and unabatedly frenetic.

TV Torso

Sparklehorse - Cow
[Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot/1995]

Mark Linkous’s typically surrealistic wordplay and intricate arrangements add a bizarre, dreamlike quality to this song, giving it a sense of delicate frailty that goes perfectly with a gentle rainshower on a weekend afternoon. This track ties itself to many of my most vivid memories from the early 00s.

Cow

Blonde Redhead - 23
[23/2007]

The opening title track on Blonde Redhead’s most recent magnum opus is a spellbinding display of harmonies and spine-chilling temperaments. Featuring Kazu Makino’s now-customary blend of abstract vocal stylings and a canvas of My Bloody Valentine-influenced distortion, “23″ vomits beauty and inhales more of my soul with each listen.

23

The 101 - Regret
[Green Street/2005]

The 7-minute closer from The 101’s first full-length is a ceaselessly lethargic and logical conclusion to the record it closes. Dripping with melodic vocals and driving guitarlines, it forms a reasurring aura that hides its futility without denying its existence. This track was a mainstay for me on Saturday afternoons a few summers ago.

Regret

Maserati - The World Outside
[Inventions For the New Season/2007]

“The World Outside” is a sparkling bit of instrumental post-rock, laden with gorgeous textures and vibrant guitars that weave in and out of themselves as they gracefully unfold.

The World Outside

Honey is Cool - Bolero
[Early Morning Are You Working/1999]

Karin Dreijer’s pre-Knife music is somewhat inconsistent, but Honey is Cool’s best work can easily stand on its own with her newer, more acclaimed releases. “Bolero” is one such example, offering a fabulous glimpse into Dreijer’s future as a skilled songwriter and producer with this assemblage of wintry, otherworldly vocals and tundric guitars.

Bolero

Moonbabies - I’m Insane But So Are You
[June and Novas/2001]

This Moonbabies track is a wonderfully sad sea of jangly guitars and shimmering boy/girl vocal harmonies that perfectly flatter the hopeless tranquility found in the lyrics. Every time I listen to this song I am instantly shoved into the Japanese dreamworld described in Haruki Murakami’s Norwegian Wood. So much so, that Moonbabies has become my official soundtrack whenever reading any Murakami.

I’m Insane But So Are You

Failure - Another Space Song
[Fantastic Planet/1996]

Possibly one of the most overlooked bands of the mid-90s, Failure’s “Another Space Song” is a dismal, metaphorical tale of being left alone to die in nothingness. Ken Andrews’ amazing grasp of space-tinged effects are exhibited flawlessly here, adding just the right amount of color to his heroin-soaked vocal chords. Fun fact: the intro of this song is taken directly from a scene in the 1973 animated French surrealist film Fantastic Planet.

Another Space Song

Hum - Little Dipper
[You’d Prefer an Astronaut/1995]

This thunderous wall of sound is drenched in waves of distortion and droning, indolent vocals — sluggishly moving without moving and breathing without breathing. Matt Talbott’s space-themed lyrics are the perfect adversary to such a stentorian nightmare, his voice barely audible above the swells and crashes of the surrounding feedback.

Little Dipper

On!Air!Library! - Feb.
[On!Air!Library!/2004]

Before their breakup, these NYC experimentalists managed to test the limits of despair on this track, which comes in at just over two minutes. Yet, in just a couple of minutes, the band overlays a simple, repetitious guitarscape with an utterly hopeless vocal line that seems as sad as anything could ever be.

Feb.

National Skyline - A Night at the Drugstore
[This=Everything/2001]

Former members of Castor and Hum teamed up to create this demure masterpiece, which is a sensory overload scourged with chilling synths, ethereal samples and emotionless drum loops. A perfect choice for walking around in a midnight thunderstorm.

A Night at the Drugstore

We Barbarians
In the Doldrums EP
[Self-Released/Nov 11]

Long Beach newcomers We Barbarians’ first EP has all the makings of a band about to explode on the indie circuit. This debut displays a stunning grasp of atmospheric post-punk — seamlessly mixing the detachedly moody aura of Radiohead with the rhythmic, angular hooks of Les Savy Fav.

High point: Walls

RIYL: Les Savy Fav, Radiohead, Cold War Kids, Kings of Leon, Wolf Parade

	Foals Antidotes [Sub Pop/Apr 8]
	Though I was slightly underwhelmed upon first listen of this album, the debut from this Oxford quintet kept finding its way back onto my playlist. Subsequent listens revealed a minimalistic subtlety not found on many recent dance-atronica records. Foals utilize myriad influences (everything from the madchester sounds of The Stone Roses to the current neo no-wave of New Young Pony Club), creating a dichotomy of cool — a mature, multicultural sound that staccatos along at a deliberately slow pace and still feels fevered and energetic; kind of like the assured international shitstorm of a U.S. oil spill near the Russian border. High point: Olympic Airways RIYL: Die! Die! Die!, LCD Soundsystem, New Young Pony Club, The Futureheads, neue electronic dance-punk, Tokyo Police Club, !!!

	MGMT Oracular Spectacular [Sony/Jan 22]
	This up-and-coming Brooklyn band’s debut full-length is a sort of savvy melangé of vintage Bowie and late Flaming Lips — juxtaposing sunny psychedelia with dancey anthems that compliment eachother beautifully by turning keyboards into acid flashbacks and acid flashbacks into dancefloor epidemics. High point: Weekend Wars RIYL: Mates of State, Flaming Lips, David Bowie, Arcade Fire, Grandaddy

apologies for the recent downtime (did anyone even notice? probably not). anyway, i was forced to switch servers and i am still trying to fix some of the things that are f’d up because of the move. i will fix it though! i am a fix-it man! i promise! i swear :(

here are some things for you to read:

• i have found the greatest video ever created. this is the reason the internet was invented:

yeah.

• also, here is a video of tony romo and mr. belding singing “don’t stop believin’” with metal skool. seriously. mr. belding and tony romo covering the greatest bar song of all time? the world just imploded.

• things have been quiet on the new music front recently, but there are gems that i will be posting shortly. (e.g.: mgmt, foals, we barbarians, girls in hawaii).

• for some reason i have been salivating on old school modest mouse recently. i kind of forgot how great and raw their earlier stuff was. do yourself a favor and listen to “neverending math equation” again.

and the plants and the animals, they are linked
and the plants and the animals eat each other
oh my god and oh my cat

brilliance!!

also, the lemonheads. was there ever a song about drugs that made you more relaxed than “drug buddy”? (the answer is no)

• should i start making more lists? perhaps. i think i will.

• the wire is like, the greatest tv show ever. and i just finished season 4 and now i am :(

• also, dexter is the greatest tv show ever. don’t watch it on cbs, though — that is bound to be horrible.