That said, I didn't feel like there was so many excellent albums on my plate at once until very recently. Something hit me near the end of August I've been really enjoying what I've been hearing in recent months.

There's a bit of hard rock in here, a bit of dancy goodness, and a video game soundtrack. Enjoy!

A Long Time Coming: Junius – Sotera

Youtube | Bandcamp

Junius, the prog metal duo from Boston, have been an incomparable band for me for about 15 years now. 'Reports from the Threshold of Death' blew me away at a time in my life when I was starting to dive a bit deeper into metal sub-genres, and the combination of crushing guitars, booming vocals and the odd time signature change was enough for me.

Fans have had to wait almost an entire decade to hear a new album, and fortunately it retains the classic Junius sound while also feeling fresh and not borrowing too heavily from old ideas. The vocals feel a bit more subdued (natural for a band who's matured over twenty years of releasing music) and sit back in the mix nicely, but the songwriting is sharp and should keep your attention is distorted guitars are your thing.

The 'A' side of the album is the clear winner to me – the band selected 'The Oracle' and 'Iniatrix' to choose as their promotional singles (at least as far as making music videos for them), but 'Disciple' and 'Summon Her' are the standout tracks I keep coming back to.

Great to see that these guys aren't slowing down or going away any time soon.

Fun Space Rock: Modula Nation – The Rift

Youtube channel | Bandcamp

At times it's funky, at times it's straight up radio-friendly rock, sometimes it gets really proggy, the band plays wearing space suits (sometimes), and if you want to hear commentary on what they don't like about our modern world, there's plenty of catchy lyrics to obsess over.

Modula Nation sit somewhere between funk rock, prog rock and psychedelia – but are happy to flow between genres instead of trying to constantly blend them together. Leaning into one style over another shows off their solid musical chops; they clearly don't want to be typecast.

Go watch the music video for 'Silicon Carne' – the tongue-in-cheek AI-generated content flows nicely with the general theme of the album, but they're also happy to show off that they're an entertaining, hard-working band at the same time – costumes be damned.

The closing track 'Soul Fever' is easily the most powerful track on the album – clocking in at just over 10 minutes it's a wild journey from their funkiest to their most progressive songwriting, without letting your mind drift off. When the album finishes up, you'll wonder where the time went.

'Wake Up, Time to Get Out of Hypersleep': Paul Zimmerman – Space Haven Soundtrack

Youtube | Bandcamp

Here are some chill vibes to listen to while your space colony goes about their day on your personally-designed spaceship, constantly trying not to die from a hull breach from a meteoroid or lack of oxygen. Zimmerman's synthy melodies coupled with a touch of ambience and space-y atmosphere helped set the mood for the indie survival game; you can tell the tracks really leaned into a feeling of minimalism to reflect the empty vastness of space.

While playing the game, it took me several days of playing to realise that I was frustrated by the lack of music, as it only played occasionally. Fortunately that can be changed in the settings, and I immediately fixed it to 'Constant'.

Zimmerman has proven his ability to nail the feeling of the different activities performed on a spaceship, whether it's spending a boring workday growing food crops as a botanist, or the tense & deadly nature of being sent out to derelict ships battling robots & aliens.

Credit should also go to Scalefin who adds vocals to the prologue and the credits track 'To the Moon', which add an ethereal & personal element to the soundtrack.

Tracks 'Infinity' and 'Are We Lost' are my picks of the bunch.

Fun Boppy Times: DJ Seinfeld – If This Is It

Youtube | Bandcamp

I've got a few friends going to Meredith later this year, and in their valiant attempts to get me interested to tag along, I thought I'd check out the headliners and see if it was my jam. DJ Seinfeld scratched an easy-going dancy itch that I haven't felt in a long time.

This album oozes 'fun summer afternoons by the beach' from start to finish – expect dreamy melodies, soft and easy-going vocal hooks, and uncomplicated beats with a few subtle layers underneath. However, I wouldn't think this record is out of place at 2AM as the party vibe starts to wind down.

I don't think I'd ever be a massive fan of DJ Seinfeld, but I wouldn't be surprised if I spin this regularly throughout the upcoming Australian summer to set a fun mood. My favourite tracks on this one are 'Turning the Page' and 'Our Mother's Walk'.

Weird entry: Scare In A Box – Creeperobics

Bandcamp

I stumbled across this by accident while searching for some new music to explore out (Band.codes and GetMusic.fm are the main sites where artists release their music for free to download) and the description and artwork immediately hooked me in.

Creepy aerobics. That's the gimmick. It sounds exactly like you think it does.

#music #NowPlaying

Of course, this means that Spotify still gets the same money overall, but hopefully my spot on the Family plan will replace someone else's subscription, so there's a net loss of revenue for them.

Either way, they won't get any more data or money directly from me.

I had already been decreasing my Spotify usage over the last 12 months, but hearing that the CEO was investing crazy amounts into military AI technology was a big nail in the coffin for me personally. I'd also been concerned about the small amounts of revenue that artists get from the platform, and definitely noticed the artists jumping ship and taking all their music off – Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Massive Attack and King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard being some of the biggest announcements.

At the same time, I've been slowly removing my liked songs from the platform whenever I buy or acquire the songs and save it in my personal music collection. I started with about 1200 liked songs and I'm down to 400-ish, and the remaining tracks are miscellaneous single tracks that I picked up via the various discovery methods that Spotify offers. I'll have to work on deleting or migrating my playlists out of there as well, as well as the artists I'm following. I'll chip away at it.

My replacement for music streaming is my self-hosted Plex server, which has a bunch of historical music that I've bought and ripped to mp3, or more recent digital purchases. Once my Plex library was up & running and I put Plexamp on my phone, I found that playing music was far more enjoyable when the algorithmic nature of Spotify wasn't guiding my choices. When I put a playlist or a genre on random, I know I'll get an even mix of tracks, instead of being biased to music I've played more recently.

Music discovery is different for me now, and it has been for a while. It feels more intentional and human-centric, instead of fed to me through a platform. In the Spotify era, it's all too easy to fire up my Discover Weekly and hear some new artists based on what people with similar tastes have enjoyed, but as a result there's no conscious connection to the artist.

Infact, with Spotify do you notice it's never an artist recommendation, it's always about the track, i.e. the commoditised, quantised portion of an artist's output? Cohesive pieces of work (i.e. albums or sets) aren't recommended – it's just the song. You just end up collecting them like trading cards, but your mental & emotional relationship with the songs you like is often surface-level. Looking back at my Liked Songs list in Spotify is looking at a wasteland of single tracks that sounded nice at the time and maybe went into a playlist or two, and never gave me much more than a momentary dopamine hit.

Now my music discovery actually requires exploration. Seeing live music and checking out the support acts (and the band t-shirts the musicians wear!) provides a real-life recommendation that is more meaningful than a result from an algorithm. Reading an album review by a respected critic might deter me from checking out an artist, but it's just as likely to encourage me to try out a record that I would have normally ignored. And how often is it that those little hunches end up becoming some of your favourite artists? Couple that with regular recommendations from similarly-minded friends, mailing lists from various record labels and Bandcamp music feeds (which have no algorithm behind them!) there's plenty of ways to keep abreast of new releases.

To wrap up: how do I feel about it? Well, a small amount of relief, but in practice I had barely opened the Spotify app over the last 12 months and I've been enjoying a more emotional connection with the music I explore, find & listen to – so today is a symbolic change more than anything else.

I may not be hearing every latest single from automatically recommended artists that are right up my alley, but instead I get greater emotional enjoyment of listening to more music from artists that I've directly supported.

#music #degoogle #Spotify #Bandcamp

I've been apparently listening to a lot of rock & metal this month; you've been warned!

My Fan Favourite: Jack Harlon & The Dead Crows – Inexorable Opposites

Youtube | Bandcamp

The Jack Harlon boys have released their third studio album after touring the hell out of The Magnetic Ridge in 2021. They released a covers album inbetween which took the edge off, but they'd been patiently writing & refining these new tracks for over a year, debuting the odd track here and there in their live shows.

Harlon play some kind of stoner/desert/doom rock, cosplaying as a drug-addled cowboy that goes on acid trips and questions their reality, and flirts with the boundary between life and death. Something like that, anyway.

I headed to their album launch in Melbourne last Friday night and it was awesome to hear the whole record played start to finish. The new tracks still have all the classic components of what made them popular in the Australian stoner/doom scene: heavy riffs with plenty of fuzz & reverb – but the songwriting is clearly getting more mature and is a solid evolution from their older albums.

Standout tracks for me include the opening track 'Moss', 'Dave Is Done' and 'Junior Fiction'.

The Nerdy Project: Phantom Spell – Heather & Hearth

Youtube | Bandcamp

Progressive rock with a distinct medieval/folk tinge to it. This excerpt from the Bandcamp album description sums it up nicely:

Reports of a skulking wizard with a travelling band of roguish bards, appearing only for a fleeting moment before retiring back to the shadows of his tower. Now, the wizard returns with a new set of compositions. Hark!

A good mix of long epics with catchy melodies, pleasant vocals and all-round excellent writing & and song structure. This one takes a while to ease into but the more attention you give it, the more it'll pay you back.

The Wildcard: Angine de Poitrine – Vol. 1

Youtube | Bandcamp

Uhh, weird funky tracks with microtonal tuning, but also with wacky costumes and loop pedals?

This KEXP performance on Youtube will give you a good sense of their live personalities & their dedication to their costumes. The duo from Quebec dropped their first EP back in 2024 but all of a sudden the KEXP live set has thrust them into a bunch of new fans – including myself.

The layering of guitar & bass loops could feel formulaic but the variation of the drums almost obscure the transition from one riff to the next. There's an effortlessness in their whole approach that makes it so enjoyable to listen to.

Favourite track for me is definitely Tohogd.

The Long-Awaited: Karnivool – In Verses

Website | Youtube

I've been a longtime fan of the Perth prog-rockers, obsessing over their second full-length Sound Awake when it released in 2009 – and even though I didn't get into Asymmetry in 2013, I have such a loyalty to the Australian prog scene from my formative years that I was really excited about In Verses finally dropping.

But this album...ehh, I don't think I've enjoying it. Karnivool have matured and polished their sound so much after decades of hitting it hard that when I think about In Verses, I think about a shiny, polished, featureless sphere that looks the same no matter which angle you look at it.

Every track has a fun riff, a cool vocal harmony, a good-enough crescendo that the 'Vool are known for, but the peaks & troughs are just not big or interesting enough to make me want to come back to it. 'Animation' and the closing track 'Salva' will definitely make it into my playlists but otherwise I think this draws the curtains on my Karnivool fan era.

The Gimmicky: Uuhai – Human Herds

Bandcamp | Youtube

Metal with Mongolian instruments!! That's the gimmick!

If you're into any kind of heavy music, you'll likely enjoy a few whirls of these guys. The vocals are really fun (vocals can't be annoying if you don't know the words!) and the traditional instruments aren't overdone. You can feel like they've drawn on Rammstein's approach a lot.

The title track and 'Dracula' are the biggest bangers.

The Comfort Food: Biffy Clyro – Futique

Youtube | Website

I got into the Scottish alt-rockers only recently; I've somehow avoided them over the last decade or so despite hearing about them regularly. I'd heard about them because Oceansize's lead singer Mike Vennart is their touring guitarist (and I was a huge Oceansize fan), but I never took the plunge and gave them a proper listen.

The first thing you notice when you listen to Biffy Clyro is the soaring & elegant vocals, and the next thing you notice is the sheer variety of soft & loud moments throughout the album (Karnivool: take notice please). If you can get past the vocals with its noticeable Scottish accent, you'll be rewarded with a great mix of tracks that give you classic ballads ('Goodbye'), straight up arena rock ('Hunting Season', 'True Believe') and quirky stuff in the middle ('Dearest Amygdala').

If you can get past a singer with a slight Scottish accent, you'll find a lot of fun tracks on this album. 'Hunting Season' is the pick off the album for me.

#music #NowPlaying #AusMusic

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