Noise purveyor. Sound manipulator. Sonic discordance. Masami Akita has been working as Merzbow since 1979 and he’s challenged himself to continuously release music that knows no boundaries. He’s released over 500 recordings and has been able to collaborate with so many different artists. With Sedonis (Signal Noise), if you were looking for something different within this release, well, you found it, but it’s what we’re all familiar with what Merzbow does every time. Noisey, deafening, erratic, yeah!

As far as debuts go, Detroit-born L.A artist, Syd Taylor, seems to have struck gold with her After The Fact. I won’t pretend to know of Stereo Jane, the group she spent 10 years in with her sister Emilia Paige but here, weaved together a tapestry of sound that’s infectious, sultry, and haunting. Not all at the same moment but Taylor’s songwriting moves from indie-pop to stadium-sized rocker to country, as we skip along from song to song. Truth be told, this would probably be off-putting if it were anyone else but there’s something so appealing about her music.

Yeah!!!!! Let’s go and jump in the pit and give absolutely no fucks. Mental Madness (Flatspot Records) is Pig Pen’s debut release and again, yeah, no fucks are given. Comprised of singer Matty Matheson, guitarist Wade MacNeil (Alexisonfire, Doom’s Children), the Romano brothers, guitarist Daniel and drummer Ian, and bassist Tommy Major (Young Guv), the band pieced together an album of sonically abrasive hardcore filled with addictive melodies and piercing guitar antics. There band leaves little to no room to breath and that’s ok because it’s what we all want in a band like this. Mind you, I just listened to a hardcore band that sounded like shit, and Pig Pen, they’re just the opposite. Ten songs that will give you hope for humanity, or at least let you live out your last few hours in complete bliss.

SMUT – TOMORROW COMES CRASHING

Time does creep upon you, and I guess there was some truth to what Ferris once said. But as soon as we start, we digress. It’s been 8 years since listening to Smut, the Chicago-by-way-of-Cincy five-piece that’s crept around this musical landscape for over a decade now. The group has just released its third long-player Tomorrow Comes Crashing (Bayonet Records). Smut has cleaned things up for its third time around.

Now, when I say “cleaned up,” the meaning might get mixed feelings, but this is possibly the band’s most polished release to date. There is an “unfortunately” here though, because throughout Tomorrow Comes Crashing, there isn’t anything that stands out remarkably within the context of the release. Mind you, that’s not to say the band isn’t competent and is incapable of piecing together pop hooks & soaring melodies circling around singer Tay Roebuck’s pretty vocal deliveries. There are just too many moments that give mainstream fodder vibes. Now I’m not certain if that was intentional or not; it’s just the way it comes across. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but there are moments when songs do seem to mimic other groups. Yes, comparisons may be cheap, but maybe just hear me out. The punchy “Syd Sweeney” initially hits the throttle, and we may first hear semblances of Runaways danger that quickly morphs into channeling 80s Go-Go’s melodies, until the track closes with growling vocals atop walls of guitar. There’s a lot going on here just within one song, but it’s something you can hear every time. But one song does not an album make; that’s why we trek on.

“Dead Air” takes a road weathered and traveled by many, opening with a balladry vocal delivery as guitars float around harmonies before changing the song’s complexion a bit with a slight dynamic shift. There isn’t anything that’s very challenging, and we face the same gruff vocal delivery as the track makes its exit. Things are pop-oriented, and it gets clearer with songs like “Waste Me” and “Ghost (Cataclysm, Cover Me).” The tracks are radio-ready and friendly, but it’s not going to make us any richer. By sixpence. Sorry. But even “Crashing In The Coil” comes across like an ex-wife listening to The Sundays. Sorry again, although you might get the drift.

This was never meant to be any sort of dig or jab at Smut or Tomorrow Comes Crashing but I’m sure it may come across that way. The fact is, Smut is a pop-oriented band with semblances of a punk ethos. Nothing wrong with that, but it’s all or nothing.

DURAND JONES & THE INDICTIONS – FLOWERS

When it comes to Durand Jones & the Indications, how can you not? While the group may have been lumped in together with the soul revivalist movement, the contemporary R&B sound it has found solace in can’t be ignored. The band has been performing and recording together for the past decade, and it has just released its fourth long-player, Flowers (Dead Oceans), and while it might be the band’s first recording since 2021’s Private Space, nothing much has changed, although I doubt anyone would want it to.

Flowers is, without a doubt, soulful, and just like its predecessors, there are absolutely no missteps throughout. Vocal duties are shared between both Durand Jones and drummer Aaron Frazer, who complement one another from track to track. Frazer’s falsetto is unmistakable, as is Jones’ rich delivery. When Frazer sings “I’m crazy like a fool,” as soulful harmonies infest the tail end of his words on “Paradise” oh there’s definitely something special here. Within the context of the song – and many of the ones he leads – his delivery is lush and laid back as the dreamy backdrop capitalizes on it all. Delicate piano tinks away as the rhythm fully encapsulates Frazer in a warm blanket of sound. On “I Need The Answer” both Jones and Frazer trade off vocals on a song that could rival the stunning words of the masters performed by Marvin Gaye, the Spinners, the Tempations, or an assortment of soulful acts. The possibilities seem endless and it’s beautifully captivating. It’s difficult not to compare the group but aligning them alongside some of the greats although it’s a compliment above all compliments. Jones seems to take the lead on “Without You,” which offers semblances of late 60s, early 70s R&B which includes spoken lyricism and it’s just a mesh of influences that we don’t need to go into because the songwriting is perfection, the performance is way above par, and the singing, well, you can hear it for yourself as strings, piano & guitar grab hold of you.

Flowers is thoughtful in so many ways, from its musicality to its songwriting. Nothing is overlooked. It would be difficult to argue that Durand Jones & The Indications have released one of the greatest albums of the year.

AJ SUEDE – THRONE AWAY

Quietly. Stepping softly. Honestly, for almost a decade now, the youthful emcee AJ Suede has quickly built a catalog of music that many would not have seen in half the time. Earlier this year, he released his album The Duke Of Downtempo, a title that couldn’t be any more apropos. Suede’s delivery, his flow, is simply imperturbable, and when you couple that with proliferation, the sky is the limit.

Suede’s new Thrown Away (knowhatimeaninc) again, offers what many can’t, and that’s piecing together metaphors juxtaposed against one another with an effortless flow. The words shouldn’t be able to be tied to one another, but yeah, they do. What’s most noticeable here, as it may be with previous releases, is that AJ Suede keeps his songs brief, most of the time never going over the two-minute mark. As far as Suede joints are concerned, it’s never mattered. He starts off with the musically sputtering “Don’t You Go,” littered with keyboard samples looped across a bassline wave. His words echo positive movement, and when he says, “There’s more to life than Rosé and Moscato,” he’s not telling you what to do, but you should live to the fullest. But it’s “Latchkey” that you might keep going back to because, well, it hits at every point possible. Musically, the repeated strings are hypnotic, and those sultry bass notes are subtle, leading us all by the hand into his world. But it’s the metaphoric utilization of his words that forces you to pay attention. This is a “WTF” moment. Things don’t make sense, but they do. Words crash & collide against one another, but they blend seamlessly. Lyrics like, “Putting no belief in any priest unless its Maxi/Internationally I rock those stages oh so passionately/then I go back home to walk those streets so calm and casually/my discography houses classics just like TV Land/thinking back like ‘damn, I risked my life on that Dominican band…” or “Above ground Costco won founded by the flat screens/the wiliest coyotes know that Amazon is ACME…”  YOOOOOO! Again, WTF? There might be some braggadocio in the mix, but it comes across as a matter of fact, and we all know it.

There’s a delicacy to the Suede god’s music. Listening to “Keepsake (Interlude),” you understand he’s his own man. The first half of the track he repeats “You know I gotta keep this operation going/you know I gotta keep this motivation going,” changing things up slightly. But you’ll understand his vision, doing things his own way while the world slaves away, tied to desks, forced into lives he’s been able to keep himself untethered to. The vibrantly fragile piano keys lead the way and set the tone for the track. One thing though, Suede is far from a one-trick pony and can change the mood easily. “Bless Your Sneeze” is a sleeper, a sleeper and a banger. Once that beat drops, you feel it deep in your soul as Suede drips his poetic verses all around it.

Suede never disappoints and there’s so much going on throughout Throne Away, with clever wordplay in the title alone. Make no mistake, AJ Suede is a triple threat: a master wordsmith, an adept producer, and fully capable as a visual artist. Throne Away offers it all!