Chicago’s Jack Armondo is a truly one-of-a-kind musician, and his Panic Priest project is profound proof. Following the release of 2018’s self-titled debut comes the appropriately titled Second Seduction – a deeply relevant record for the wildly chaotic world in which we find ourselves floundering for sincerity and connection amidst the upheaval of daily routine.
It seems almost ironic that sunny, colorful Miami is home to a musical project like Astari Nite. Quintessentially goth, cemented by their blended Cure-meets-Bowie darkling post-punk sound, their somber tones and poetic lyrical memento mori belie a celebration of the resplendence of this cobwebbed corner of the music scene.
While everything that Shopping does well sounds better than ever on All or Nothing, the band’s sense of exploration really surfaces on the second side of the record. The intensity of “Lies” sounds more foreboding than anything they have done before while Rachel Aggs’ guitar starts to add some effects to the normally clean, prickly notes. Aggs and Andrew Milk continue to weave vocal lines through each other as Gang of Four once did but the intensity of “Expert Advice” cuts like a diamond
A genuine treat for Valentine’s Day: Vancouver post-punk band ACTORS has gifted us all with a cover of The Sound’s “Mining For Heart” (1985) just this morning, swiveling from the shining nostalgic brightness of their 2018 full-length release ‘It Will Come To You’ into a sound straddling grit without resorting to harshness. Jason Corbett’s vocals imbue the song with a strange warmth that is signature ACTORS; the definitive bassline, too, carries Jahmeel Russell’s hallmark sound and is borne gracefully by Corbett’s guitar and Shannon Hemmett’s subdued, moody synths.
In their prior full length release “ YR Body is Nothing”; Boy Harsher created a driving, yet stripped down musical landscape, evoking an uneasy neurotic headspace with existential sexual crisis based lyrics paired with beats that your body can’t help but dance to. It causes the listener an uneasy reaction of pleasure met with discomfort. The single release, “Pain” showed the strengths of the band captured in a single track. Let me tip my hat to another well known band who captures this feeling by saying Boy Harsher do indeed capture the “pain” that we have not only become used to, but now fully seek out and can’t get enough of.