Genius #16.5 - April Scrap Heap

Larry Michaels

15 May 2025 • 7 min read

The lowly scrap heap returns with a handful of picks that are good enough to rec, but not good enough for the big GDC. Maybe a little disorganized, maybe a little "classical and folk" in one section, maybe a little "starting a holy war in the year 2025 because we have the Chicago Pope who has maybe listened to Wilco before, maybe is familiar with the work of Shellac, maybe has heard a Tortoise record by accident before." Whatever, let's listen to some tunes.

Scrap Heap

Classical & Folk (??? sorry ???)

Hildegard Von Bingen - The Canticles Of Ecstasy (Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, 1993)

Hear me out.. If you haven't listened to this already, you should. From a recording perspective, it sounds awesome – recorded in an old church at the foot of a sarcophagus. Music from the 1100s never sounded so good. I listened to this while I was at work & every email sent had so much weight to it.

Lucy Railton - Blue Veil (Ideologic Organ, Apr '25)

*slams the hood* This bad boy can fit SO many slightly-detuned resonances in it. Comes courtesy of Kali Malone's record label so you should know what to expect. Drones, drones, drones. It's like friggin Iraq in here (??????).

Rhiannon Giddens & Justin Robinson - What Did The Blackbird Say To The Crow (Nonesuch, Jan '25)

I just wish modern old time artists would record slightly grungier. These clean vocal pop recording situations sound bizarre. There should be dust covering every inch of the recording. Incredible playing, tho

Electronic

Los Thutanaka - Los Thutanaka (self-released, Mar '25)

Hyperambient is HERE & it's anticolonial and ragged. DJ tags, crispy synths, weird vocal samples, alt percussion. Two brothers from the southern US with roots familial roots in the Andes. Their philosophy boils down to "The future does not lie ahead but is behind us, something we carry. To move forward is to also return” and listening to this, there's an element of timelessness and placelessness that is all-encompassing. Cheers to Aled for showing me this bad boy, I'm obsessed.

Alessandro Cortini - Memorie I (Self, 2020)

If you've listened to any Cortini albums recently, you know what to expect. Gnarly gigantic drones & goopy textures from the Nine Inch Nails synth player.

Hieroglyphic Being - Dance Music 4 Bad People (Smalltown Supersound, Apr '25)

Very cool techno album! Hard hitting drums, wild sound designs, & good compositions that keep the energy love. Love the use of filters to get some crunchy sounds. The producer said he wrote the album because everyone in the club is in a bad mood anyway, so the music might as well reflect that. Hell yeah. Will be revisiting.

Experimental Songwriters

aya - hexed! (Hyperdub, Mar '25)

Honestly? Super annoying. I love it. Somewhere between Death Grips, SOPHIE, and La Dispute. Noisy, chaotic, full of big blown out synth tones. Incredibly English. There is one reference to "chavs" (chaves?)

Lonnie Holley - Tonky (Jagjaguar, Mar '25)

I'm not super familiar with outsider folk artist Holley's work, but his work on this album is hella engaging. Wrapping up his experiences and the history of the African slave trade, he finds a moment in the middle of this album to ask "was I good father? was I a good son?" Really

Hana Stretton - soon (Brierfield Flood Press/PW Elverum & Sun, 2023)

OH buddy, this IS the song of the summer. Just the sound of outback field recordings, the light touch of an acoustic guitar, and barely-there hummed lyrics. I could listen to this over and over again.

Salami Rose Joe Louis - Lorings (Brainfeeder, Apr '25)

ASMR vocals over the lightest little jazzy ambient Rhodes piano sounds. Songs feel like an outline of a sketch of a song. The lyrics are honestly (intentionally) funny. Singer/songwriter/composer is a disgraced oceanographer I think??

Saya Grey - SAYA (Dirty Hit, Feb '25)

Nice kinda freaky pop music – opens really strong and gets a little more conventional as it continues. Could THIS be the "song of the summer??" Maybe Track 1? We'll check back in in July.

Rock

Zeta - Todo Bailarlo (Skeletal Lightning, 2022)

Long have the question been asked: "what if Mars Volta kept putting out records like De-Loused In The Comatorium?" Psych, latin grooves, prog-punk. gerge get ipad. kram. etc

Miki Berenyi Trio - Tripla (Bella Union, Apr '25)

Ex-Lush vocalist has some neat tunes, best listened to while wearing sunglasses & kind of brooding. Cigarette music.

Roomer - Leaving It All To Chance (Squama, Apr '25)

Pretty decent atmospheric indie pop album, gets lush and gets noisy, but mostly vibes like Phoebe Bridgers alt rock songs. Not a bad listen, but was very surprised to learn this quartet is from Berlin.

Post Rock

Trans Am - Surrender To The Night (Thrill Jockey, 1997)

The only cool band to ever rep Bethesda? Like if Tortoise was more into Kraftwerk. Helps that John McEntire (from Tortoise) is the producer on this. One of those records I'm gonna never stop talking about & annoying you when I bring it up.

Death Blues - Ensemble (Rhythmplex, 2014)

Cool mix of strings & percussion, recording quality is a little crispy but holds it. I used to bump this record all the time back in 2014 and it kinda holds up, even if myself as a person in 2014 does not hold up. Much to consider.

Unsane - Total Destruction (Matador, 1994)

Pretty good noise rock from the post-Nirvana age. Megaphone vocals from behind a wall of guitars & crispy snare+cymbals.

Metal

ryr - dislodged (Moment Of Collapse, Apr '25)

Tbh I wasn't really feeling this one but "lapsed" is a great track and got me engaged. Berlin-based post-metal.

Gorguts - Pleiades Dust (Season Of Mist, 2015)

One long song! One long song! We love our EPs that are one 32 minute long song!

Haunter - Discarnate Ails (Profound Lore, 2022)

Cool American metal, kinda black kinda death, pretty atmospheric & some neat kinda tech-y moments. Apparently they used to be a screamo band? And also the bandmembers also moonlight (daylight?) as a country band called Calico Bonnet?? Wacky. Anyway, if you're into bright technical 30min albums that only have 3 songs, this is it.

Jazz

Ches Smith - The Self (Tzadik, Apr '25)

You know how I feel about a percussion album!! I like it! I like a drum album! Mostly drums & bells, some other sources of percussion. Ches Smith is one of the best drummers in the biz, this album runs wild and free and I felt like I was running with it while listening. The recording is so close on every sound with spot-on room mics – just excellent tracking & mixing, very satisfying listen.

Genevieve Artadi & Norrbotten Big Band - Another Leaf (Brainfeeder, Apr '25)

You know, I love that big band jazz is back – even if it's not a style that speaks to me, there are freaks who love it and they deserve this moment. Every player on this cut is outrageously talented, nice to hear synths & fuzz bass make it into a big band. The more Stereolab-y cuts are the better tracks on this one.

Gregory Uhlmann, Josh Johnson, Sam Wilkes - Uhlmann, Johnson, Wilkes (Int'l Anthem, Apr '25)

Thoughtful & subdued guitar/sax/bass trio with lots of glitchy & shifty effects. Everyone takes turn playing lead and being the rhythm section.

Hip Hop

Backxwash - Only Dust Remains (Ugly Hag, Mar '25)

Cool to hear some verses from Backxwash where she isn't screaming or overpushing dynamics in general. Vulnerable bars.

Ghais Guevara - Goyard Ibn Said (Fat Possum, Jan '25)

The record is maybe a little over-long, but a maximalist Marxist/pan-Africanist hip hop proj is allowed to overstay. Second half hit me a little better than the first, but it's a "story" so you gotta stick it out.