AsterTracks' Monthly: Dec. '21 - Jan. '22
A history on the formation of AsterTracks;
In 2020 I joined a Discord server with a music channel that wasn’t overly active. So, being someone who had listened to hours upon hours of music I had never heard a week, I declared it my home in the server. Every week I had compiled everything I thought was worth bringing up and gave a short couple sentences making a case to check it out. That became the weekly format for this blog to start to grow. “Last week in music” was a great way to put a spotlight week after week on bands and artists I thought released something worthy of a conversation, be that good or bad in terms of quality. However, putting out that and a review every week was starting to affect the quality of work I was able to put forth.
So, to kick off the blog returning to normalcy in 2022, I’ve decided to rebrand the whole project. Instead of week-to-week, on the first Monday of each month I will present to you a selection of albums and EPs and/or whatever other project catches my eye that I think you should know about. This month because December was Best Of month I’ve included three records from back then as a starting bonus. You may also notice if you were around last year that the “Other Tracks” section, which used to list singles as well as songs from records I otherwise had no great insight on, is missing. Currently, I am working on a project with a close and beloved friend that will give me the tools I need to cover singular tracks again, but I don’t want anything to be half-baked.
With that said, welcome to the first installment of that very project. Make sure not to take my word as law and to check out all of these projects for yourself, behind every record there was hard work and dedication whether you enjoyed it or not and artists deserve your attention. If you have anything you’ve been listening to that I have not covered let me know, you can contact me on Twitter at the bottom of this posting.
Megawave - Rainbow Heartache
I’ve been watching Megawave sort of blow up lately on social media and I’m pretty proud of them. They’ve taken the old school approach of following and reaching out to new ears themselves online either by actual communication or with their MegaWednesday Twitch streams. Something that in a pandemic especially you need to do to build any sort of name for yourself online. Their debut record is a good one too! The musicianship is incredible here and songs like “Slow Motion,” which was a single, really draw you into the whole project with its smooth sailing riffs and laid-back, chilled vocal delivery. If I were to offer any sort of criticism I would say on the lyrical side there’s a lot of lines that are very on the nose to the point that they come off as cheesy but there’s a balance to that as well.
Of Mice & Men - Echo (SharpTone)
Sadly, I’m not really feeling this new OM&M record and even sadder so I’m not really surprised. For me personally the band has been very hit or miss since post-Restoring Force and while I loved Defy I think it’s time to change up the formula already. Every single track on here, while well composed, just flat out refuses to stand out from another with very little exception. For example, my favorite track on here is “Timeless” for its hook but even at that I had to google that hook in writing this to remember what song it was attached to.
All that and I really did not vibe with the rollout on this thing. They released this record throughout the course of the year in the form of EPs that all came together with one song, which was a cover, to form the track listing of the record and it just pulled the wind out of the sails for it hype-wise for me. By the time I got to the album I felt I had already heard the whole thing and what little excitement I could have held at the formulaic metalcore sound was totally diminished by that point. If you’ve liked their past stuff at all some of these moments will hit but that’s about it.
SION - SION
Another December metalcore record I wasn’t really too crazy about but this one betrayed my expectations. This was a cool band in concept with Howard Jones of Light the Torch, formerly of Killswitch Engage coming together with YouTube musician Jared Dines to release an independent record especially when their single, “The Blade,” was as good as it was. Unfortunately, it doesn’t really go any further than that artistically. Again, every song just kind of blends into another. I'd rather just stick with the one single at the end of the day.
Enterprise Earth - The Chosen (Entertainment One)
This is probably my biggest surprise enjoy of the month. Not only is an hour-long deathcore record with the medium song length being five to six minutes something I enjoyed, it’s something I keep going back to. I think what encaptures me most about this album is it’s total versatility in styles of metal as a strategy to keep me totally drawn to the entire play length of the record. It isn’t just heavy for the sake of it for an hour, this thing really explores music. It also makes use of some really interesting, soft interludes with beautiful vocals and acoustic guitars. If you aren’t a metalhead I would actually recommend you try just a few songs off the top of this one.
VRSTY - Welcome Home (Spinefarm)
There is something that progressive post-hardcore bands do that makes a lot of them sort of all blend together into one blur to a lot of listeners. The slight influence of R&B or pop music, the soulful vocals, the noodly riffs. VRSTY doesn’t really do any of those things like other bands. Instead of a small influence in some catchier genres, they take the tropes of those genres and put them in a blender alongside post-hardcore and metalcore. Songs like “Soul” have the big chorus, the catchy one-liners but it also has the intensity I’d want to see out of a band of their genre in a live setting. The vocals on here are incredible and I wouldn’t be surprised to see this band mixed in with some of the 2000s greats based on that alone. No real noodly guitars but each of these fourteen tracks has a life of their own that is impossible to deny. This will 100% be one of my favorite core records of the year and while it wasn’t my favorite out of the month of January, I could not put it down.
The Weeknd - dawn FM (Republic)
I’ve been seeing very mixed reactions to this album especially from longtime fans of The Weeknd and I can see why. While there is a clear line of progression in the sound it is quite different from his past stuff and the narrative of fame and success getting to you can be really hard to relate to. To me though this is quite honestly the first of his stuff I’ve truly had a good time with. I like the radio vibes a lot, the themes of the inevitable end. Features are pretty hit or miss and the record runs a little long for something I wouldn’t consider S-Tier but overall a good album I think.
Down Under - Down Under
South Carolina deathcore act, Down Under, has put out a self-titled EP to kick off the new year that uses various samples and passages from film and other mediums to enhance the tracks. As far as versatility goes though I couldn’t tell you anything that separates these tracks from one another aside from their respective samples. There’s one in particular that shows sort of a lack of self-awareness where a listener is talking condescendingly about bands in Down Under’s lane all sort of sounding the same and how they have no ability to play. While I’m in no way taking the musical ability of any of these members, the use of the clip is sort of funny to me. This EP does sort of add to a massive heap of EPs and full-lengths that all basically sound like this that I’ve heard in just this first month of the year. I hate to use anyone as an example but I feel like it was almost an invitation.
High Wind - Windwvker
So, I think at this point, we can all accept that blessthefall is over, no? If you’re really hungry for new material though, Jared Warth and Elliot Gruenberg have taken it upon themselves to carry on the mantle. Their new band, High Wind, sounds like blessthefall from an alternate timeline where they never went for a more alternative rock sound in 2018. It’s a dead ringer, even Warth’s screams remain the same. They’ve only got three songs to the name so far but I’ll be keeping my eye on this one.
The Homeless Gospel Choir / Teenage Halloween split (Don Giovanni)
Been pretty into this split EP from two bands I’m in no way familiar with. Especially loving “Burn” on the Teenage Halloween side. It’s a fun, quick little punk-esq song with a really good hook line in;
“I wanna burn the city down and rise from the ashes.”
Homeless Gospel Choir brings some cool stuff as well with some slower, more emo influenced tracks. I’m especially loving the kazoo bit on “Pittsburgh Shoes.” These short form splits are always good for a little espresso shot of a couple acts you maybe don’t know about so I recommend giving it a go.
FKA Twigs - CAPRISONGS (Atlantic)
The first time I listened to this mixtape I was enamored with its interesting production, soulful songs that sounded mainstream yet not quite manufactured and interludes that are a snapshot of a life spent wishing for love yet being so confident in oneself that you know it will happen eventually. The second time I listened to it all the illusion of that had either vanished or totally worn off.
Historically, I am very far from a Twigs fan. In 2018 or 2019 I had heard one of their songs off the grounds that it was Pitchfork’s number one song of that year and my partner and I have made a tradition of listening to all 100 of those selected tracks at year’s end. I could not believe how painfully boring and forcefully art trash it was. Here, it’s not so much that it’s so artsy it isn’t passable as music anymore. It’s that the entire thing just ends up sounding like a collection of noises and vocals that, while there are ideas in there, do not go together to form cohesive tracks. So, for a moment, I thought Twigs had finally won me over as a project but ultimately what I end up getting is a step in the direction of appreciating what is going on but not coming over to that side just yet.
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