What’s up, vacuum drifters! I hope you’re all keeping well. I’ve never excelled at coming up with series titles for the website, so I went with something simple this time around. Think of “Releases We’ve Missed” as additional recommendations of albums, EPs, or splits that we never covered in our podcast. I intended to subject Connor to some of these releases within our inane ramblings, but time got the best of us and we were unable to work these releases into our schedule (excuse: there’s a metric ton of good music dropping this year, and we’re struggling to keep pace).
There is no strict publication periodicity for this series. It’s more like “we’ll drop a new volume once we’ve selected and penned blurbs for twelve releases.” Why twelve? If you listen to the podcast with some regularity, you might know. In all seriousness though, it gives us a formal limit to work under so that we can release these volumes with some regularity.
That being said, below you will find all of the releases covered in this first volume. They are ordered alphabetically by artist name. Electrofunk, slushwave, and experimental black metal are but a few genres explored. Once you near the bottom of the list, you’ll notice an “Other Asides” section. I’m treating this more like a “catch-all” to cover singles or newer releases from artists we’ve already covered on the podcast before (these are in addition to the standard twelve releases). Anyway, I hope there is an interesting release or two for you all to discover here. If there is material you’d like to see covered in this format, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us via our contact form, socials, or email. Thank you so much for reading!
Band: Aequorea
Album: DIM
Genre: Blackened post-/doom metal
Location: Nevada City, CA
Release date: January 7, 2022
Label: Transylvanian Recordings
Plodding doom, sodden in melancholy. An earthy piece laden with monolithic riffs and well-paced atmospheric ascents. This is their sophomore record. Their debut album, Tellurian, was released back in July 2014. For folks keen on Neurosis, Isis, and Yob.
Artist: Brainwash Machine
Album: Remote Mind Controller
Genre: Electrofunk / 8-bit
Location: Oslo, Norway
Release date: May 27, 2022
Label: Draug Media
Brainwash Machine, the “little brother” project to Oslo’s electroviolence project, NEXT LIFE, made its debut in May of 2022. Where NEXT LIFE welds battering grindcore with retro-videogame timbres, Brainwash Machine strips out the grind in favor of gutter-trawling electronic rhythms. Dingy synthwave caked in corrosive guitar grime gurgles like viscous sludge down dystopian metropolitan alleyways. Yet every so often there percolates lucid synth chirps and crystalline patterns, inspiring awe amidst the dereliction. For folks keen on getting merc’d by obnoxious sewer bats in sidescrollers.
Artist: Brobdingnagian
Album: trambus tines
Genre: Experimental black metal
Location: United States
Release date: July 7, 2022
Label: Self-released
Brobdingnagian (meaning: gigantic) is an amorphous, experimental black metal/noise project from somewhere in the United States. This is the first release I’ve heard from them. Upon further inspection, their earliest material dates to 2008—sounds like I have some homework to do.
I haven’t dabbled in noise for quite some time, so when the opening track “soft touching” unfurled, I didn’t expect to have my eardrums prolapsed. Yet here we are. This succinct collection of five mosaics is a sprint across a craggy bedrock of maimed samples and churning torrents of noise. Excoriating are the black metal tines. However, its last couple of tracks harbors a mangled noise rock-like structure. It’s an infernal dissonance that managed to excavate an elusive pang of catharsis. This certainly won’t be everyone’s vibe, but if you’re open to embracing outlandish collisions of sound, there might be a few kernels in here that you’ll enjoy.
Artist: days of blue
Album: Blissful Days
Genre: Vaporwave / Slushwave
Location: California
Release date: May 14, 2022
Label: Self-released
I’m still trying to figure out vaporwave. It’s a genre I’ve been exploring a decent bit this year, with my main entry-point being the growing catalogue from the Netherlands-based Hiraeth Records. Days of blue is a solo slushwave artist from somewhere in California, who I learned of via Burst Synapse (noise grind from Ontario). As far as I can surmise from listening to this artist, slushwave is a subgenre that melds together an overflowing spice rack of dreamy, nostalgia-saturated textures to concoct a cozy ambient slurry. Ethereal rhythms permeate many of its tracks, but ever-present is a thick, shimmering slosh. I have a long way to go before I fully wrap my bone dome around this style of music, but these first few steps in the journey have been a delightful excursion. For folks keen on daydreaming.
Band: Effluence
Album: Sarmat
Genre: Experimental brutal death metal
Location: California
Release date: June 22, 2022
Label: Self-released
Berserk and batshit death metal that will likely give you a migraine. Brace yourself for unfettered discord and shrieks of mangled piano keys. I have no idea how to aptly encapsulate the lunacy harbored in this release. Matt Stephens—the mind behind this project—has another nanners project named Tantric Bile that I highly recommend if you’ve not heard of it. Just as nuts and experimental as Effluence, but more akin to an “extremely hard-bop”. Their November 2021 release, Seminal Baptism, is hilariously unhinged. For folks keen on acquiring prolapsed eardrums.
Artist: Made of Teeth
Album: Sociopathogen
Genre: Hardcore punk
Location: Wales, UK
Release date: June 24, 2022
Label: APF Records
Let’s get chunky with the Welsh power trio Made of Teeth. Like molars ripping through fleshly gums, the band unleashes a noisy, groove-filled banger-rang-a-bang of an album. Sociopathogen is overstuffed with absolutely delicious calorie-filled riffs, bouncy sludgy bass, energetic drum splats, and various unhinged hardcore punk vocals. Rockin’ progressive instrumentals leak in at times creating an awesome dynamic throughout the various tracks. This all imbues me with auditory fuel to embrace my inner Neanderthal and just go incredibly ape shit on the ugly-ass decorative rocks next door. Seriously why rocks and pebbles? Grow some native plants or some crap instead.
Artist: Randal Collier-Ford
Album: The Red Faith
Genre: Dark ambient / Electronic
Location: Seattle, WA
Release date: July 23, 2022
Label: Self-released
It’s been a bit since I’ve checked in on the latest output from Seattle’s dark ambient sorcerer, Randal Collier-Ford. His latest full-length record, Advent, dropped back in November 2020 via Cryo Chamber, but since its release, he’s proceeded to release material on his personal artist Bandcamp page. The Red Faith is his latest EP, which embodies five unreleased and unfinished tracks. Onyx howls resound through Stygian chasms. Dimly illuminated by flickers of crimson, the incantations from shawled entities murmur. For folks keen on bleak atmosphere and unsettling tongues.
Band: Slamadeus
Album: Slamphony No. 1
Genre: Slamming death metal
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Release date: May 23, 2022
Label: Inherited Suffering Records
Slamadeus, as far as I can glean, is a relatively new slamming brutal death metal project from Ryan Wolanski (Lever of Archimedes). If you’re acquainted with slam, you know what you’re getting yourself into here. Putrid vocal retching, stampeding percussion, and stupid-heavy chugs. The occasional electronic discharge slithers amongst the compositions too. A concise and fun jaunt. For folks keen on becoming Napoleon Blown-Apart.
Band: Visions of Yōkai
Album: One Unknown in the Depths of the Depths
Genre: Black metal / Dungeon synth
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Release date: May 25, 2022
Label: Self-released
The second offering from the dungeon synth/black metal side project of P.T.S. (Koreltsak, Castlerock). I adore the dread-quivering atmosphere permeating this one. The black metal compositions are twined with stifling synth resonances and the instruments sound like they’re echoing from an obsidian abyss—distant, yet unsettling. For folks keen on raw black metal.
Band: Vultoro
Album: A Violent Daydream
Genre: Progressive metal / Stoner metal
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Release date: May 27, 2022
Label: Self-released
Though stoner metal is not my go-to genre, Vultoro’s progressive twist on the style by way of their debut album, A Violent Daydream, makes for an elating and jovial sojourn. It’s dainty and gentle in spells but doesn’t pull punches with its meaty riffs and rocking rhythms, often shapeshifting between sludge and breezy melodies.
Band: wombscape
Album: Forced Labour Songs
Genre: Hardcore punk
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Release date: March 22, 2022
Label: Self-released
Tokyo’s wombscape is a self-described art-core group. Their tone is dredged from the rust-rotted gears of hardcore punk, pocked with embellishments of mathcore and post-hardcore. Eddies of feedback slosh like glacial plasma. Volcanic vocal abrasions and nauseating riff whiplash is aplenty. Percussion hammers like a horde of malfunctioning pistons. It’s quite the electrifying release, scorched with infectious intensity.
Artist: Wormrot
Album: Hiss
Genre: Grindcore
Location: Singapore
Release date: July 8, 2022
Label: Earache Records
To keep it simple, Wormrot’s new album Hiss just kicks total ultimate grinding taint. With the early July release, it’s been my go-to “holy fuck, it’s annoyingly hot outside” listen. As my back sweat morphs with my car seat, I’m jamming this sucker extra loud to cover up the sound of my AC. The Singapore grindcore outfit has delivered a destructive tidal wave of filthy fun. Fast-paced slaying riffs and abrasive drumbeats that slam you into the coarse sand. As you try to recover from the endless pummeling you get slapped around in the current of gnarly growls and succulent screams. I found the old-school punky thrash-inspired bits to be absolutely exhilarating. GANG VOCALS! You know what? Maybe I should blast Hiss at the beach with a crappy portable speaker. Great sandcastle building music… right?
Other Asides
I’m not sure what to title this chunk of the post. Think of it like brief updates or insights on singles and other releases that don’t necessarily fit the blurb structure above.
Artist: feth
Album: The Beast Aeon
Genre: Dungeon synth
Location: UK
Release date: July 31, 2022
Label: Self-released
Yet another new batch of minimalist dungeon synth arrangements from the fascinating feth. The Beast Aeon is the solo UK artist’s fourth release in about two months’ time. Grand, sweeping, and mystical, with a peppering of bizarreness. I adore feth’s aesthetic and the arcane realms explored through their lo-fi frequencies. Each of their releases is available on separate Bandcamp pages; you can listen to each one at their respective links: Field, Forest & Fen (feth), O death, where is thy sting? (fethii), and With Great Wings and Many Feathers (fethiii).
Artist: Keosz
Single: “Login”
Genre: Dark ambient / Electronic
Location: Slovakia
Release date: July 2, 2022
Label: Self-released
Keosz has been one of my favorite dark ambient composers for quite some time. He dropped a new tune, “Login”, back on July 2, 2022. Here’s hoping a new full-length record on Cryo Chamber is on the way.
Brief aside: If you’re keen on dark, bass-heavy electronic tunes, be sure to check Keosz’s NO FUTURE series (VOL 1 and VOL 2). He also composed the original soundtrack for the console-based post-Norway looter-shooter videogame, Vigor.
Artist: Pär Boström
Single: “Minnesvintrar”
Genre: Dark ambient / Dungeon synth
Location: Umeå, Sweden
Release date: June 22, 2022
Label: Self-released
The master of post-apocalyptic and ghostly atmospheres has been dropping new tunes on his YouTube channel for many months. Only recently have I discovered these morsels. Pär’s ability to craft otherworldly melodies that are as forlorn as they are comforting is utterly astounding. Each composition percolates like a tear in reality’s veil, providing but a brief glimpse into worlds forgotten. My entry point was via his track “Minnesvintrar”, but since its release, he’s dropped an additional three. I won’t link them all here, but I implore you to check them out if wintry ambience and mournful arrangements strike your fancy.