Odds & Ends: February 4, 2024

Band: Everything Oscillating | Album: The Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are | Genre: Progressive rock | Bandcamp

Everything Oscillating is an instrumental act that focuses on flashy, technical shredding. Two of the three members are the guitarist and bassist for the Seattle-based band Moon Letters, whom I’ve covered a couple times. EO does a great job threading the needle of balancing flashy instrumental antics and engaging songwriting. The best moments here call to mind classic bombastic ‘90s and early ‘00s prog bands like Liquid Tension Experiment and Transatlantic, with a bit more of a classic heavy metal influence. Jazz and Latin flavors are included naturally, and the (abbreviated) instrumental cover of “Achilles’ Last Stand” is done well, too. (I feel like I could write a short essay on my love for the original version of that song, and EO absolutely does it justice here. It’s right up there with “Carouselambra”, “In the Light”, and “The Rain Song” among my favorite Led Zeppelin cuts. (I know, shocker, my favorite Zeppelin songs are all among the band’s longest.))

Score: 79/100

Artist: Peter Gabriel | Album: i/o | Genre: Art pop | Bandcamp

Peter Gabriel’s first new album in 20 years is enjoyable. It’s decent, fairly arty pop with some good melodies and interesting ideas. His vocal performance is strong, and the production is clean, crisp, and professional. Compositionally, though, it doesn’t stand out. Post-rock flavors weave themselves into Gabriel’s usual somewhat-spacey writing style. It’s competent but not particularly memorable. i/o comes in two different mixes: the so-called “bright-side” and “dark-side” mixes. These two mixes are not meaningfully different. Yes, if you listen to each song’s bright and dark version, you can tell them apart, but the differences between the two are insubstantial, surface-level, and borderline-gimmicky. Publications (especially prog-focused ones) that included this on their best-of 2023 lists make me question if they just reflexively put every release from major ‘70s players on their year-end lists, regardless of quality. (In fact, I know several included Yes’s abysmal The Quest on their 2021 lists, so I suppose they do.) If you want some keyboard-forward art-pop to put on in the background, i/o will work, but this album doesn’t leave a lasting impression.

Score: 63/100

Band: Myaelin | Album: Naesekhnaetri | Genre: Post-rock, Sludge metal | Bandcamp

The latest album from this Belgian ensemble is an intriguing mix of stoner and stoner-adjacent music, improvisation, psychedelia, and the poetry of Aleister Crowley. The four songs on Naesekhnaetri are swirling pieces where distorted bass is often in the lead. Shouted vocals, generous reverb, and ritualistic repetition give this record a fittingly occult feel. The 15-minute “Collectif Primitif” takes too long to get going, but once it does, it’s quite strong.

Score: 75/100

Band: ni | Album: Fol Naïs | Genre: Progressive metal, Avant-prog | Bandcamp

The new album from these mad Frenchmen is a natural progression of their established sound. The music is anxious, claustrophobic, and crushing. The riffs are tightly-wound and thorny, with irregular meters constantly keeping the listener in a state of unease. A few quiet moments are mixed in to give the occasional reprieve from their face-melting onslaught, and those breathers are much appreciated. The three-part, 13-minute “Triboulet” is a new high point for the band.

Score: 84/100

Band: Pharm | Album: The Tower | Genre: Progressive metal | Bandcamp

The three songs on The Tower are pummeling, striking, and engaging. Death and sludge metal provide the basic underpinnings of these cuts, but there’s a creative, unsteady rhythm to all three tracks. Flashy, thrilling riffs storm in and command the listener’s attention. They always threaten to step on each other’s toes, but it somehow all winds up gelling naturally. The vocals throughout this EP are shouted but clean. Being able to clearly interpret the singer’s tone adds to the songs’ sense of drama. “No Mouth, Must Scream” features some great, spacy instrumental passages, and the title track is a rumbly, lurching madhouse.

Score: 96/100

Band: Zenon | Album: Arven | Genre: Psychedelic rock | Bandcamp

The second album from this Norwegian trio features some solid, moody, fuzzy psych. The ten-and-a-half-minute album opener “Vitne” is the album’s high point (for me, at least), featuring a hypnotic, ragged groove and ethereal vocals. The rest of the album doesn’t quite live up to this standard, with some moments being a bit closer to plain ol’ indie folk. Nevertheless, there’s still a nice mix of garage-y psychedelia and smart jazz and folk influences throughout Arven.

Score: 72/100