Party Dozen and a quick-and-dirty batch of 5

Since I’m trying to get caught up and this batch is mostly just cool, noisy records I picked up in 2022, I’m keeping it relatively brief. Next week I’ll put a little more feeling into it.

No. 1391: Party Dozen - The Real Work

There’s sort of an interesting double feature happening back to back here on this week’s Autobiographical Order, specifically the recurring appearance of Nick Cave. (See next album.) But he also appears on this album by Party Dozen, an Australian duo who make intense Lightning Bolt-style noise rock with just saxophone and drums. Kirsty Tickle plays her sax through effects and it ends up sounding just as loud and aggressive as a guitar (or bass). She’s also sort of technically the band’s vocalist but she mostly shouts through the bell of her saxophone, so it’s never really easy to understand but you still get the feeling. They rock, and they do it loud and chaotically, is what I’m saying. 

Where does Nick Cave come in? He’s a guest vocalist on a song called “Macca the Mutt,” and really just sings “I’ve got a mutt, I’ve got a mutt, I’ve got a mutt, got a mutt called Macca” over and over again. I have no idea if anyone in this group of people named their dog after Paul McCartney, but the song’s fun!

This was one of my favorite bands to be introduced to in 2022, just an endless surge of noise and energy and fun. Highly recommended if you like rippers. Rating: 9.0

Listen: “The Iron Boot”

No. 1392: Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - The Good Son

After doing it about a dozen times already, I’m not sure there’s a lot more to say about Nick Cave that I haven’t already said. He’s long been one of my favorite songwriters, and this is one of the albums that made me a fan. Specifically the song “The Weeping Song,” which to my ears is one of the best songs the Bad Seeds ever wrote and recorded and still perform even 35 years later. But what’s interesting about The Good Son is that it was the gospel record that Nick Cave made before he realized he wanted to make a gospel record (that would be last year’s Wild God, which is also a very good record). The Good Son is a bit softer and gentler than his other material at the time; he’d previously just made Tender Prey, which is violent and depraved in all the best ways. This still has a little bit of that grit on moments like “The Hammer Song,” but this is more aligned with a band like Tindersticks, who certainly took influence from Cave and company, than say, The Birthday Party. Gorgeous album. Rating: 9.3

Listen: “The Weeping Song”

No. 1393: Black Magnet - Body Prophecy

I don’t think it’s a surprise to anyone reading this that I’m a sucker for industrial metal with a particular ‘90s-influenced aesthetic. That can mean Nine Inch Nails, Godflesh, Ministry or what have you, not that the gap between any of those artists is particularly vast. And Black Magnet does a pretty spectacular job of paying tribute to all of them, in a manner of speaking. They have a defined aesthetic, but you can hear Godflesh and Broken-era Nine Inch Nails in a lot of what they do, and they do it remarkably well on this album. At times it comes more in the form of synth-pounding EBM, and sometimes it’s all big, heavy metal guitars; occasionally there’s an “Amen” break, which always makes me do the Leonardo DiCaprio pointing meme. This was one of my favorite metal albums of 2022 and I don’t remember seeing it get a ton of recognition elsewhere, but it should have. Likewise, their new one is great too. I ordered it from Bandcamp and they gave me a two-month window for shipping. I guess that’s one way to ensure you don’t underdeliver? But that’s fine. I’m not in a hurry. Rating: 9.0

Listen: “Violent Mechanix”

No. 1394: Bad Breeding - Human Capital

This was sent to me from Iron Lung Records, which is a fantastic label that releases a bunch of hardcore and punk and metal and noise rock and noise and various other genres that are loud and aggressive, for the most part. Maybe they’ve released some quieter records, but that’s none of my business. But it was a joint release with One Little Independent, which is the label that Björk has worked with for over 30 years, so that’s an interesting place for the two to meet. And frankly, it makes perfect sense on both: It’s very much a punk/hardcore/noise rock record, but with a songwriting sensibility that transcends aggression alone. They mix it up between two-minute rippers and longer, more nuanced dirges, all with anticapitalist and antifascist themes throughout, so you can’t lose, really. Killer band. Rating: 8.9

Listen: “Joyride”

No. 1395: Crime of Passing - Crime of Passing

Back in 2020 I started listening to a minimal synth band from Cincinnati called The Serfs, who have become one of my favorite new-ish bands in some time. Then one of the members, Dylan McCartney, started another project called The Drin, which features the same members when they play live. And then the same musicians also started this project, Crime of Passing, which is more of a goth/deathrock group, but with Andie Luman singing. So if The Serfs are like early New Order, and The Drin is sort of like a hybrid of Cleaners from Venus and Cabaret Voltaire, this one is more Siouxsie/Xmal Deutschland. Still in the same general vibe, but more guitar, more goth. Which means I love it, of course. Most of the songs are short and direct, but there are a handful of songs that stretch out and let them get weirder, like “Hunting Knife,” which is more otherworldly and psychedelic. Funny thing is that I started listening to another cool Cincinnati punk band this year that made a record I really loved, and it took the second or third listen to realize—yep! There’s a member of The Serfs in it. Never stop, you industrious weirdos. Rating: 8.8

Listen: “Hunting Knife”