SEVEN: Seven songs to drown out the pain

wisdom edition

Four days ago, I set off to hike up to the Schreckhornhütte, a beautiful mountain hut in the Swiss alps at an altitude of 2530 meters.

The view from the hut

On the way up, I noticed some pressure in my lower jaw. This wasn’t a cause for worry; I had felt that before, and it always went away within the hour. Three hours and many kilometers later, I did get a bit worried. One sleepless night later, I was very worried. Another sleepless night rushing back to my home country to avoid having to pay the extortionate rates of a Swiss dentist later, my slightly less extortionate dentist confirmed that I had a particularly not good wisdom tooth infection. Two days from now, I will be one wisdom tooth lighter, and also probably physically lighter given that I’m on a diet of ibuprofen, soup, and these seven songs.

Hovvdy - Blast

Hovvdy are back with a new album, and it’s a blast (get it). It’s calm, soothing, and the production carries just enough warmth to briefly overshadow the nagging pain in my head. Also, the music video is uniquely strange and strangely low effort enough to warrant at least several kudos.

Harm’s Way - Human Carrying Capacity

Throwback to early 2018, perhaps the only worse physical pain I have felt in my life thus far: spraining both ankles at once :). Being the good entertainer I was and am, I was entertaining my little cousin by jumping on a trampoline with him. Unfortunately, being on a trampoline with two people means that there is a split second where one person makes it all the way down, draining all elasticity from the trampoline. If, coincidentally, the other person tries to jump up at that split second, assuming the elasticity is what it’s supposed to be on a trampoline, it could mean that that other person will be unable to walk for three months. “Human Carrying Capacity” is a dumb fucking song that needs to be played very loudly to drown out the pain caused by getting off your couch and walking three meters to the kitchen to get some more paracetamol-laced food.

Departures - Flowers

Departures, one of my favourite uber-melodic sadboi hardcore bands, had to call it quits many years ago after their vocalist suffered a heart attack while performing. Seemingly out of the blue, they have now returned with their first new song in a decade, and the excitement I feel about having a new Departures song (that is entirely excellent) is absolutely capable of soothing some of my pain.

Turnover - Wheelie For No One

I don’t understand Turnover’s new album. It has some excellent songs, and it has some songs like “Wheelie For No One”. For starters, it’s called “Wheelie For No One”. Secondly, its opening riff should signal a pretty lovely dream pop song. Instead, it does whatever it does. It’s not good, but goddammit, it manages to be catchy? It’s weird and I don’t like it, but I keep trying to understand it. I don’t. Well done Turnover, you have once again made an album that is not good, but perhaps for the first time (in for)ever, you have put out something that is intriguing and puzzling enough to momentarily forget everything else.

Electric Callboy and I guess fucking Brawl Stars - Hypercharged

Fighting fire with fire, or something. This shit sucks.

Deary - Smile

Earlier this year, Deary put out one of the most endearing albums of the year. “Smile” remains an absolutely gorgeous opener: the type of maximalist dreamgaze that features enough hazy whistles and bells to soothe, vibe, and all of the other good things.

Kill Karl - Gimme Fuckin’ Cheeseburger

Unsurprisingly, my head hurts. Kill Karl soothes. Bear with me: this project is such excellent yet transparent ragebait that there is nothing odd about it. It raises zero questions: it is beautiful. Anyone who engages with it seems annoying, including me: people hating on it “don’t get the joke”, people not hating on it “have terrible taste”, and people overanalysing it by way of a small paragraph are “pretentious”. It’s so well done.

Thank you I am going to eat another ibuprofen.