You ever just wanna throw some music on that you can go “Ay!, Ay!, Ay!” along with? I have my go-to albums for that but I’m adding  Dylan Owen’s 4-track Do Before You Die Mixtape which he just released. While Owen delivers a high jolt of energy here and we can get down to these tracks as if they were party anthems, they’re much more than that. On “Mom’s Basement 2007,” he reflects back on his more youthful days, where roads were leading him filled with false starts and challenges. The lowkey “Today Was Once Someday” is inspirational, with a musical tapestry that brings to mind 80s R&B jams as he lets his words rip, live for today, follow your dreams, make what you want reality. That’s the long and short of it. “L.A. Freestyle” plays like a storybook plot, getting from point A to point B leading him to the city of angels while “Romance Language,” well, it’s probably why we’re all here. Owen doesn’t mince his words and I’ve talked about this joint before, filled with an unencumbered energy the music tries to keep up with. He’s full of enthusiasm and love, citing his own influences, and wanting to learn Spanish so he could “say ‘I love you’ in a more romantic language.” With just four songs, Dylan Owen lays it all out and if there was ever a mic drop moment, this would be it.   

We should preface this with the fact that I tried, I really did. While I truly respect and love his previous work (Low, Retribution Gospel Choir), Alan Sparhawk’s glitchy electronic album, White Roses, My God (Sub Pop), isn’t something that I personally think there was a need for. Run through electronic effects, the unintelligible vocals don’t seem to serve any real purpose aside from offering additional melodies. It’s not a complete waste of time though, with the brief “Heaven” at just over a minute, Sparhawk & company (his family and one or two other players) moves quickly enough to grab ahold of the melody before quickly dissipating into the ether. “Brother” captures my attention at its tail end, marching with much more energy than it began with while “Black Water” is structured more formidably. We have an idea of what vocal melodies would sound like and there are moments when the music does crescendo and we feel/hear additional percussion until its abrupt end. It’s unfortunate but I can’t get behind White Roses, My God which comes across as self-indulgence.  

TROPICAL FUCK STORM – INFLATABLE GRAVEYARD

There are some things that you do just because you can but on the flipside, there are things that you don’t have to. Some things you must question and wonder about the impetus of releasing material, like live albums, are they really necessary? Well, sometimes it is because we may never understand what a live show of a group could possibly sound like.

Enter, Tropical Fuck Storm. I’ve followed the band’s progression through three albums, 2018’s A Laughing Death In Meatspace, 2019’s Braindrops, and 2021’s Deep States. Of course, the one thing that’s always stood out about Tropical Fuck Storm is that no fucks are ever given. The band takes its cues from a lineage that has always done things its own way, whether it was the meteoric explosiveness of Sonic Youth, the throbbing nuances of Truman’s Water, or the sheer creative force that was Captain Beefheart (who I recently found out once performed on SNL). The cheap comparisons might be off or who knows, they might be on point but one thing is for certain, the noisy experimentalism of the art-punk quartet stands alone in 2024. The group just released its live, Inflatable Graveyard (Three Lobed Recordings) and as the songs are playing, I sometimes forget this is a live release.

If we work our way backward, we can see/hear the TFS’s love for the most profane – or sacred, you decide – with its bastardized version of the Bee Gees “Stayin’ Alive.” Either way, we still get the song’s clear melody, engulfed in fiery distortion, and we can tell the band has a full grasp of the Brothers Gibb track. The harmonies are clear as the band members make the song its own. No one could ever replicate the TFS tactical play, completely tongue-in-cheek. But what’s my point here? Well, Inflatable Graveyard is a good starting point for anyone because although the band is playing familiar tracks to some, it could be new for others. The performances are on point, as instruments clash against one another, rubbing together like two nickels right before the heat intensity. “Antimatter Animals” clearly moves this way, with loads of distortion around it but the melody reels you in. Many of the songs here are over the 6-minute mark and it doesn’t feel that way. Why? Because the band never allows its music to drag out, instead rallying around it with clever instrument play and vocal harmonies.

Initially, I wasn’t sure if this was the right way to go for the band but again, Tropical Fuck Storm surprises with its renditions of previously released songs, sometimes loosely based on the original compositions but always leaving listeners with compelling renditions. Is it too soon for the band’s greatest hits? Inflatable Graveyard says “no,” the group is steadfast and does an amazing job with its live album, which was recorded back in October 2022 at Chicago’s Lincoln Hall.

XIU XIU – 13″ FRANK BELTRAM ITALIAN STILETTO WITH BISON HORN GRIPS

While it doesn’t happen often, there are moments when the unexpected smacks you directly in the face. Sometimes we should know better, when you least expect it, expect the unexpected. But that’s difficult to expect when the countless emotions, styles and energy always move at fantastic speeds that are unmatched by anything or anyone we could possibly fathom. People don’t always work with analytical minds, and that’s to our detriment.

I’ve stopped attempting to understand what goes through the minds of Xiu Xiu players Jamie Stewart, Angela Seo, and David Kendrick, the driving force of the band so when faced with its new 13” Frank Beltram Italian Stiletto With Bison Horn Grips (Polyvinyl) I did go in without expectations. The opening “Arp Omni” is a side of the band we’ve grown to truly know throughout the years; somber, morose, melancholic, as a wall of strings crescendo across the vast space cast while Stewart’s quivering voice surrounding the lose in his words. Yes, it’s as vast and stunning as anything else the band has ever composed in the past. Then the band moves into different territory with “Maestro One Chord,” with its deep rhythm that sets it apart from the rest of the Xiu Xiu catalog. That’s the way it seems for the moment before electronic elements play alongside Stewart’s voice, which could either be clever synth or treated vocals with unnerving guitars screeching alongside other found sounds. It’s easy to have this on repeat over and over again.

The band runs the gauntlet here, moving from style of musical play to another and “Common Loon” is just that, this time being a pop song. Or as close to a pop song as Xiu Xiu will ever get. Mind you, the band is more than capable of writing adorable pop songs to keep the masses enthralled, but what fun would that be? Instead, we get Stewart’s poetic stanzas over catchy rhythm as instruments class around, coalescing time and time again. Kendrick’s drums propel everything forward as Seo’s synth melds together with guitars. It’s a beautiful catastrophe as it’s sometimes on the brink of falling apart but doesn’t. The track is loose but tightly wound at the same time. It’s the grand “Veneficium” that just might grab your attention though, and it’s probably its playfulness that does it. A track that could probably fit comfortably within Sweeney Todd, as vocals soar, instruments swell, and melodies collide. This! It’s the best of what Xiu Xiu has to offer all contained within one song.  But the group is getting more comfortable with its thick rhythm play, as witnessed on “Pina, Coconut & Cherry” as Stewart opens singing “A ballad rather than a rocker” but this is neither, towing the line somewhere in between. They utilize electronic instruments as sounds glitch here and there but the rumbling growl of its bass always makes its presence known. Stewart teeters on the edge with his maniacal vocals as the song finds its way to an inevitable end, and like magic, it’s gone.

There’s no doubt in my mind that Xiu Xiu, continues to push boundaries here with 13” Frank Beltram Italian Stiletto With Bison Horn Grips and after 22 years still innovatively expresses itself. For the newcomer, Bison Horn Grips may be easy to digest while the rest of us ponder what’s next for the band whose brilliance continues to thrive.

JOHN DAVIS – JINX

Everyone seems to parrot the same thing over and over again, “You can’t live in the past, you have to live for today and look forward to tomorrow.” Blah, blah, blah, people don’t want to hear that all the time, and if that were the case, we’d either destroy or throw away things from our past lives. Records, not records, I’m not throwing them to the wayside. I was a fan of several groups that dissolved but I held onto their releases regardless, Superdrag being one of them.

Just released today, Superdrag vocalist/guitarist John Davis, releases his fourth solo album, JINX (Lost In Ohio). What we end up with is something quite familiar and nostalgic and when he sings “I don’t want to know about the future, I’m treading water here in the now,” on “The Future,” it seems fitting. Given, his own disenchantment here may not be what I’m thinking of but it all ends up making sense.  The sound harks back to his earliest days back in the 90s with crunchy guitar-driven chords on indie labels, although his words seem to have him spent, drained emotionally. He quickly turns it around on “Please Be My Love,” with the same kind of guitar work gnawing at the bit, filled with excitement and passion. One thing about Davis, he can weave words together and energetically entwine it within his own musical space.

One thing is evident here though, Davis can write captivating pop songs wrapped in distortion. That was always evident with Superdrag so it shouldn’t come as a surprise. When “Cold Advice” opens, the catchy rhythm engulfs the senses and as he opens his mouth, the heavens open with his cooing voice. The rhythm shifts and the song builds like a mountain suddenly swelling and then slowly dissipating. He plays with dynamics ever so slightly, although when “Free To Fall” starts, we know where he’s going and when the drums are going to take things to another level. He’s able to capture the moment and just allow the melody to ride the wave stop and start when he wants here. His spacey vocals on upbeat “Indifferent Stars” is fitting as his words drift alongside thick guitar splatters across a rhythm to suit his needs. While it’s obvious Davis has the capability to rock with an unabashed fervor, it’s the midtempo of songs like “I’m Sorry” that shine brightly with his grasp of melody and lyrical wordplay. Davis is honest and tetters on the brink of self-deprecation here assessing living life or wasting it away. It’s perfect.

Yeah, it’s clear, Davis can fill JINX with so much of himself, who he is musically and personally, and saints be damned, he’s going to put it all out there for the world to hear. He’s a musician and JINX shows much of his own humanity.