Genius #23 - Nov '25

Hello geniuses it is nearly the end of the year. This month's issue has some great records, I've been really loving the Yalla Miku album. The album recs this month are a mix of higher energy rock and ambient albums on the livelier side of the genre. I don't know about you, but I'm trying to get keyed up as winter sets in.

Back in March I predicted that the weight of trying to make art in a collapsing society was going to have real and lasting consequences. Earlier this month, Baltimore stalwart (and I don't use this term lightly! They've been at it for well over 15 years) post-punk band Ed Schrader's Music Beat announced that they were calling it quits until further notice to focus on social issues. It's hard to keep going on stupid things that seem small in the face of everything else – but at the same time, music is maybe the only thing that brings me joy... It's a really complicated feeling! Often the thought patterns tend toward "the only thing that brings me joy is something stupid" instead of "maybe it's not that stupid."

Anyway things are getting wild out here & the more that the powerful thrash against the contradictions of capital & populism, the more space gets wedged open for us to build a different world. Let's listen to some fuckin' tunes.

• Capitalism
• Album Recs
• Upcoming Shows

Capitalism

Unfortunately, my desires have become synthesizer. I've become completely entranced by the Whimsical Raps Atrium, a new standalone hardware synth from the company that mostly makes esoteric modules. Atrium was released in a small batch about a month ago, but the 2nd batch is out "soon."

Based on the little info available, it looks like a 5-voice synth with a few band pass filters (adjustable on the fly), a chord cluster voice-spread thing, and a bunch of custom-scale arpeggiators. What makes me most intrigued are the gestural controls – I'm not much of a keyboardist, but I love making synthesizer sounds, so any instrument that lets you play synthesizer without having to look at a piano bed is immediately interesting to me.

With the different gestures & scale systems, it seems like there are a ton of ways to improvise with this. And it looks like they've got some optional guard rails for playing in an ensemble without going way off-base. Maybe I'll start saving up...

Album Recommendations

Yalla Miku - 2 (Bongo Joe, Nov '25)

anticonsumerist kraut/post-punk with worldwide influence

2, by Yalla Miku

10 track album

Yalla Mikufataldiz

This band was clinically grown in a lab to pique my interest. I'm a simple man!!! Amorphous/fluid line-up band from Geneva, with members from across Europe, North Africa, East Africa. Their songs mix post-punk, krautrock, psyhedelia, Ethiopian jazz, Arabic folk music. It's noisy, it's cultured, it's laid back, it's intense. This is basically the ideal GDC record – like an edgier Stereolab with more worldwide influences. Anticapitalist post-punk screeds drably spoke-sung in French, Amharic, Arabic – cool little time signature changes, stutter start-stops, buzzy banjos, synthesizer arps, funky drums. This might be my album of the year?? This is what it's all about.

Kelly Moran - Don't Trust Mirrors (Warp, Oct '25)

prepared piano/synth ambient

Don’t Trust Mirrors, by kelly moran

10 track album

kelly moran3sidesinasquare

Moran's release last year was an interesting exercise that I found intriguing, but ultimately not gripping: Moves In The Field was a self-collab album with a player-piano. She programmed the player-piano to play complex piano lines, then she performed the piano alongside her own compositions. It's a cool idea! But it was missing something for me. This release is a companion piece – a few of the same compositions, but performed on synthesizers & prepared piano. The little inharmonic sounds of the plinky pianos are absolutely stellar – the sounds of player piano replaced with synth arpeggios and tasteful ambient reverb. I think this is a way better entry than the previous.

Citric Dummies - Split With Turnstile (Feel It, Oct '25)

21min of shredding punk

Split With Turnstile, by Citric Dummies

12 track album

Citric DummiesCitric Dummies

This is the kind of record I used to absolutely devour. Silly punk songs with melodic stutter-step riffing, igneous spontaneous guitar solos, a cartoony vocal delivery, and direct song titles a la The Ramones ("I Don't Like Anything", "I Can't Stand The Weekend," "My Life Is A Total Sham", etc.). Only 3 of these noisy, poppy little hardcore songs crack the 2min mark, but each one still gets an anthemic chorus & one "oh wow hell yeah" moment. Kinda vibes like a maximalist, high-energy Husker Du (the band's last album is a vandalized cover of the famous Huskers' LP titled "Zen And The Arcade Of Beating Your Ass") . The whole thing gets bonus points because the Minneapolis trio is SEO-maxing by claiming that this album is a split release with the biggest band in the hardcore world. You can listen to this thing during a walk to the bus stop, just throw it on.

They Are Gutting A Body Of Water - LOTTO (ATO, Oct '25)

woozy & loose shoegazey rock

LOTTO, by they are gutting a body of water

10 track album

they are gutting a body of waterggough88

OK This is me going on record as a shoegaze hater: it's a genre that demands stellar songwriting to escape the gravity of all the reverb & slow tempos. It's hard for me to hear a shoegaze record and not think that the originators of the style (MBV, Slowdive, Cocteau Twins) did it best and ran up the score. That said, the latest from Philly's TAGABOW has some really nice moments: chord progressions that loop endlessly upward, orchestrated guitars with 2oct up effects that nearly sound like steel drums, a pitch-perfect absurdly-deep-cut Fugazi cover. Can't say I'm a huge fan of the distorted guitar tone, which takes over a lot of the soundstage, but it's a quibble – the songs that nearly arrive at Pinback moments, like "violence iii" and "baeside k" are a nice exercise in subtle head-nodding rock music.

Vatican Shadow - 20th Hijacker (20 Buck Spin, Oct '25)

harsh techno album about 9/11

20TH HlJACKER, by Vatican Shadow

7 track album

20 Buck Spin

Strange ambient record that toes the line between techno, harsh noise, and soundscape/film-score style composition. The liner notes directly reference the Chris Hedges' book that radicalized me when I was a teen. He's been releasing these creeping electronic albums with skittery drums, woozy synths, anxious textures, and extremely descriptive political song titles since 2017 (this record has a piece titled "Speed Of Sound (SR-71 Blackbird Pilots Practiced Survival In The Sahara)" and features ex-Sepultura drummer Iggor Cavalera). Great music to listen to while reviewing surveillance data and enhancing drone images to identify enemy combatants, there's just tons of dread here.

Upcoming December albums:

Holo Boy, by This is Lorelei

10 track album

This is Loreleimenflea3e

• NJ Experimental hip-hop rapper dälek is releasing a collab album with Charles Hayward (This Heat) – should be a cool combo from a couple old-heads. HAYWARDxDALEK is out on 12/5 via Relapse Records.
• Water From Your Eyes' Nate Amos has a new release of re-recorded old songs under the name This Is Lorelei, his bedroom pop alter ego. Holo Boy is his

Scene Report

Ostraca @ Ottobar (11/23)

The last time I saw Ostraca was in 2018, what a joy to see them still absolutely fucking slaying at The Ottobar. This video was taken at Quarry House (with wonky sound but whatever), but it gives a good idea of what it's like to see them live. What a band! A tight 21min set too, you KNOW that's in the sweet spot.

Upcoming Shows

Baltimore

• 12/4 (Thu) Suzanne Ciani @ Le Mondo
• 12/4 (Thu) Steve Gunn, Chris Forsyth @ Metro
• 12/4 (Thu) Curving Tooth, Virginia Warwick Trio, Daryltron, Taylor Quinn @ Ottobar
• 12/6 (Sat) Saccata Quartet: Nels Cline, Chris Corsano, Darin Gray, Glenn Kotche @ An Die Musik
• 12/6 (Sat) Jacob Winans, Molasses, Spiral Jetty, Lawncare, Extended Release @ Angel's Inn (where is this??)
• 12/7 (Sun) claire rousay, Ami Dang @ 2640 Space
• 12/9 (Tue) Cursive, Ajj (Duo) @ Metro
• 12/11 (Thu) Danny Brown, Underscores, Femtanyl @ Nevermore Hall
• 12/12 (Fri) From China To Appalachia @ Church on the Square
• 12/13 (Sat) Bitchin Bajas, Geologist and DJ Emily Rabbit, Geologist @ Metro
• 12/13 (Sat) Shai Hulud with Holder, Ousted & Sick Move @ Ottobar
• 12/15 (Mon) Primitive Man, Buffalo Nichols, Great Falls and God Is War, @ Metro
• 12/20 (Sat) Oxrun, Reaper’s Gong, Consumer Culture and Slot @ Metro

DC

• 12/3 (Wed) Sorry, Avice Caro @ Songbyrd
• 12/4 (Thu) They Are Gutting A Body Of Water, Hooky, Snoozer @ Black Cat
• 12/4 (Thu) Teethe, Villagerrr, Aunt Katrina @ DC9
• 12/5 (Fri) Model/Actriz @ Black Cat
• 12/6 (Sat) Raven Chacon Ensemble @ Library of Congress
• 12/8 (Mon) Cursive, Ajj (Duo) @ Songbyrd
• 12/8 (Mon) Jay Som, Sea Lemon @ The Atlantis
• 12/9 (Tue) The Beths, Phoebe Rings @ 9:30 Club
• 12/10 (Wed) The Beths, Phoebe Rings @ 9:30 Club
• 12/10 (Wed) J. Robbins (Band) Plays Burning Airlines, Shadow Riot, Erasergirl @ Black Cat
• 12/11 (Thu) Carpark Records 25th Anniversary Show Ft. Ducks Ltd, Phoebe Rings, Geologist @ Songbyrd
• 12/12 (Fri) Algernon Cadwallader, Gladie, Snoozer @ The Atlantis
• 12/12 (Fri) Genocide Pact, Deliriant Nerve, Backlash, Seclusion @ DC9
• 12/12 (Fri) Algernon Cadwallader, Gladie, Snoozer @ The Atlantis

NYC

• 12/1 (Mon) Ingrid Laubrock (w/ DoYeon Kim, Brandon Seabrook, Shawn Lovato, Tom Rainey) @ Close Up Jazz
• 12/2 (Tue) Moor Mother w/ Pussy Riot Siberia @ Powerhouse Arts
• 12/7 (Sun) Marc Ribot @ LPR
• 12/7 (Sun) Mary Halvorson duo w Wadada Leo Smith @ Roulette
• 12/11 (Thu) Bitchin Bajas @ Union Pool
• 12/11 (Thu) Quartet: Ikue Mori, Ken Vandermark, Nate Wooley, Sylvie Courvoisier @ The Stone
• 12/13 (Sat) SML @ The Sultan Room
• 12/15 (Mon) Catalytic Festival (Craig Taborn & Miriam Parker, Joe McPhee, etc.) @ Roulette

Future Shows

• 1/7, 1/8, 1/9, 1/10 (Wed-Sat) Ches Smith Quartet (w Mary Halvorson, Liberty Ellman, Nick Dunston) @ The Stone (NYC)
• 1/7 (Wed) Maria Chavez/Shahzad Ismaily/Greg Saunier trio @ Rhizome (DC)
• 1/10 (Sat) Jivebomb, Gumm, Sinister Feeling, Heavens Die, Bite @ Ottobar (Baltimore)
• 1/11 (Sun) Clone Row (Ches Smith, Mary Halvorson, Liberty Ellman, and Nick Dunston) @ Tonal Park (DC)
• 1/14 & 1/15 (Wed, Thur) Ches Smith Quartet (w Mary Halvorson, Liberty Ellman, Nick Dunston) @ The Stone (NYC)
• 1/15 (Thu) shame @ Ottobar (Baltimore)
• 1/16 (Fri) Morgan Evans-Weiler @ Red Room (Baltimore)
• 1/17 (Sat) Shara Lunon, Craig Taborn, Ches Smith trio @ The Stone (NYC)
• 1/18 (Sun) Star Card, Chanp @ TBA (Baltimore)
• 1/25 (Sun) Agriculture, Knoll and Sadness, @ Metro (Baltimore)
• 1/25 (Sun) PsyOp, Ousted, Pilau, Mass Ego @ Pie Shop (DC)
• 1/26 (Mon) Greg Freeman, Golomb @ Songbyrd (DC)
• 1/27 (Tue) Sharp Pins, Dim Wizard @ Comet Ping Pong (DC)
• 2/3 (Tue) Dry Cleaning, Yhwh Nailgun @ Black Cat (DC)
• 2/7 (Sat) Cross My Heart (!!!) @ Ottobar (Baltimore)
• 3/20 (Fri) Joyce Manor, Militarie Gun, Teen Mortgage, & Combat @ Nevermore Hall (Baltimore)
• 3/30 (Mon) Dirty Three @ 9:30 Club (DC)
• 3/31 (Tue) Dirty Three @ Recher Theatre (Baltimore)
• 4/11 (Sat) Mclusky, PILE @ Black Cat (DC)
• 4/17 (Fri) Waxahatchee & Mj Lenderman @ The Anthem (DC)
• 5/21 (Thu) The New Pornographers, Will Sheff @ 9:30 Club (DC)