Heathen Disco Music Reviews #0055 (December 31, 2024 – Feb '24 Hard Drive Dump COMPLETE)

It’s becoming very clear that the idea of a Top whatever list at the end of a year really seems to focus on the records that one listened to the most. I don’t find it helpful for one person to rank out like 100 releases like some other folks self-publishing have done this year (maybe an organization like The Quietus can get there, and they seem to do it twice a year, because they’re processing reviews in volume, much like I’m doing here). Thing is, if you want to get into it you could easily make a Top 10 for any given month, and had I been able to give this much music its fair shake when I acquired it, my lists might look a little different.

Point is, we are still in an extremely rich seam for discovery of new music and appreciation of older music. There is literally no way to get bored with it, unless you’re choosing paths that will wear you out with their unoriginality. I don’t swing that way with this work; it’s not worth it. Even in the first three (free) examples on this one you are going to find some music that could change how you view your tomorrow. Look around you — that change is what we all need to keep going as a people.

I cannot believe I’ve written this much this year. For a while I swore I’d never be able to do it again, but 55 music-centric newsletters (and one for a book) say otherwise. I cannot do this work without you, so thank you so much for reading in 2024, and get ready for the same commitment with new music in 2025 (and looks at music from March 2024 onward, because I promised). Twice a week. It’s coming.

If you haven’t subscribed yet, it’s three fucking dollars a month. All the links are provided for you to greatly expand your reach on music happening now. This is how you stay involved. Maybe your mind gets changed for the better. Worth a shot!

KEEP SENDING IT IN: PO Box 25717, Chicago IL 60625 USA // [email protected]

Share this to whoever you think needs to see it, and thanks to the 300+ of you who are looking at this (and especially those who can walk behind the rows, so to speak). You’re giving me a reason to keep on this path.

OH ALSO? I recorded a new Heathen Disco set the other day, you can enjoy it here:

Songs played in this set:

• Nox – Copulator

• Crispy Ambulance – Deaf

• The Saints – This Perfect Day

• The Dead Space – Behind the Wall

• Loop – Black Sun

• Killing Joke – Requiem

• Bauhaus – She’s in Parties

• My Bloody Valentine – (Please) Lose Yourself in Me

• Verity Den – Everyone Thought You Were Dead

• Billy Thorpe – Children of the Sun

• Deep Purple – Blood Sucker

• Flamin Groovies – Slow Death

• You Ishihara – Crevice

• Basement 5 – Last White Christmas

• Bardo Pond – Tommy Gun Angel

Reviews start here…

JIM MARLOWE Mirror Green Rotor in Profile (Medium Sound, 2024)

Date: 2/19/2024

American composer piano action for the end of America from Equipment Pointed Ankh team lead Marlowe, designing new routes in the Cale/Riley playbook for wind/pedal powered melodic exploration. A remarkable suite of sound, utilizing keys, drums, nylon strings, bass, Mellotron, sax/brass and other instruments of potential delight to lay out a map for world four point five, with an impressive reach across ‘70s AOR/FM smooth hits which wind in the directions commercial music would never allow. Church of Bird Flu, maybe?

LUGE I Love It Here, I Live Here (self-released, 2023)

Date: 2/19/2024

Toronto’s answer to Ponytail, Guerrilla Toss, Palm, their godparents Deerhoof, and any other number of skilled brushwielders giving an everything-goes approach to a progressive-punk bent. Crunchier than a lot of those other bands, pretty hard to anticipate where they’re going or what they’re doing measure by measure (in the right ways).

OMNI Souvenir (Sub Pop, 2024)

Date: 2/19/2024

Atlanta trio continues to explore the next angle they can bend to on their fourth album, a welcome surprise to return to an approach they seemed to abandon on their lackadaisical Sub Pop debut Networker (2019). Going back to the initial formula essentially acts as a needed do-over to return this band to the sound that listeners appreciated them for in the first place. Those pandemic years never happened, right?

THIRTY MORE REVIEWS AFTER THE JUMP