Ba'al

After a very long time away, we’re back with our monthly playlist business – freshly moved over from Spotify to Tidal. Read on to find out what Nick, Richard, Will and Luke have been listening to…

https://tidal.com/playlist/1355df88-fbdc-4bfe-b434-a0e55925cbf9

Nick – Guitar

Gaerea – Submerged

Possibly the most divisive release of the year (in black metal circles anyway). I, for one, love it for several reasons. 1. It’s great. 2. It’s ruffled gatekeeper feathers en masse.

Angine de Poitrine – Sherpa

Not that the sentiment hasn’t been shared several times over, but how fitting that such a weird and unique band like this should take off during this horrible new era of corporate greed trying to replace art with AI slop.

Neurosis – Last Light

I’ll hold my hands up and say I never massively got into Neurosis and incidentally always enjoyed Isis a lot more. How fitting that their first album with Aaron Turner would be the one that got me hooked.

This Gift is a Curse – Kingdom

Possibly the band I’m most jazzed to see at Fortress Festival this year, I only checked them out when they were announced and they are rancid in all the most delicious ways.

Susumu Yokota – Saku

My go to album in times of chaos desiring calm. A criminally under-appreciated artist and one of Japan’s finest ambient/electronic exponents.

Richard – Bass

Nevermore – The Heart Collector

I was at best a part-time fan of Nevermore when I was younger, but the news of their reunion with a new singer has had me revisiting some of their classics, and you really can’t argue with the blend of riffs, melody and shred on some of them. This falls more on their ballad-y side but is an absolute slammer.

Voiski & Hadone – On the Edge of Adhesion

Pounding techno/trance banger with infectious melody and a kick drum that will level your house.

Curve – SuperBlaster

If you’ve ever dreamed of a mi of Cocteau Twins and Portishead and also wished both had more alt rock guitar thickness, Curve are for you. Basically the best of the ‘arty’ side of ’90s music summed up in a band.

Jääportit – Suon Sulaessa

Jääportit apparently began life as a solo synth project, but by this 2009 album had morphed into a full band doing a spacey blend of psych rock, space rock, post rock and progressive electronic music, with some deeply tasty basslines and tones. Lovely

Old Sorcery – Blades of a Reflection

First playlist back in a while so hey, let’s pull out all the stops with a 20min track. I’ve been slowly working through the Fortress lineup ahead of this year’s festival and Old Sorcery are possibly my favourite discovery so far – only slightly hampered by finding out he’s doing a dungeon synth solo set rather than a full band one. On record, the blend of ColdWorld-esque melodramatic atmo-BM with a magickal twist and a heap of dungeon synth atmosphere makes for an enveloping sound.

Will – Guitar

Moron Police – Pachinko, Pt. 1

Songs like this remind me how much I love music. The whole album is amazing… progressive, emotional, full of energy and incredibly catchy! The music is so captivating. 11 minutes long and at no point does it let up, perfect piece of music. The orchestration is beautiful and the production and performance just blows me away. The album is an all timer for me. It is also particularly great for any fellow synesthetes out there, very colourful. Get your headphones on in the dark and treat yourself to a journey.

Toehider – Bats Aren’t Birds

Alongside Moron Police, these are one of my top finds from jumping around Spotify… constantly impressed by their music. Progressive rock/metal band with an amazing vocalist, Geddy Lee vibes! Been singing this song for weeks. Was tough to choose just one song from Toehider with the amount of variety in their catalogue… this one is a bit on the shorter more acoustic end of their usual output, but I love it.

Bear Ghost – Rivers is a Vampire

Adventure Rock! Theatrical fusion of genres, full of energy and one of the best bands I have had the pleasure of seeing live. Very melodic, experimental and creative. Another for the syntesthetes, can’t get enough.

Faunts – M4, pt.2

I discovered these through Mass Effect in 2007… proceeded to buy all their music and listen to it constantly for years. Though pretty melancholic, during particularly stressful times I come back to them and their relaxing electronic/dream/pop/post-rock… thing. It gives me a similar feeling to your own bed after a long trip…

96 Bitter Beings – Wish Me Dead

Now we have two CKY’s, we get twice the music! Though I am enjoying the Deron Miller side of things more. I always enjoy his vocal lines, and love his unique riff style.

Luke – Drums

NO BS! Brass – 3am Bounce

I’ve found a fair bit of joy in listening to groovy Brass band music lately at the energy of this song is soo bouncy but chaotic at the same time. It’s just a delight for my weird brain.

Jack Gardiner – Spark It (feat. Cory Wong)

Jack Gardiner’s new album is full of amazing tracks, but this one stands out to me as particularly funk / jazz fusion and the contribution of cory wongs incredible clean, tight guitar playing is just lush.

Iron Saviour – Maniac

I love me some cheesey power metal, and when it’s done to cover a classic synth-pop hit like ‘Maniac’ with all the gusto of screeching vocals and high energy guitars I just cannot help but be thoroughly entertained and uplifted.

Moron Police – Captain Awkward

Through various trips for gigs lately, I got put onto this band by Will and my goodness they are great and weird. The music is eclectic but catchy and wacky, but familiar all at the same time.

Textures – Walls Of the Soul

DJENT! I’ve spent a long time listening to djent but not spending much time with Textures, so I saw they’d released a new album early this year and boy did I relaise what I’d missing out on! This track does a great job demonstrating the groove and heft which I adore in djent.