HYLI Vol. LV - Liturgy and The Replacements
Patrick sends Andy maybe the best punk band's best album and Andy sends Patrick some Brooklyn black metal
What is up all my cool cats and kittens (Patrick: oh, this is how it’s gonna be this week, okay). Remember that? From the first bit of Covid lockdowns where so many of us were able to work from home and didn’t lose any productivity (it actually improved for many of us) and now as a society were like “Hey that was great lets all just be back in the office every day now” and here we are. Whatever. Anyway, I got snipped (Patrick: this is why I usually do the intros, jesus) so I’m not having any more kids and I’m sitting here in my office with an icepack on and not at home being comfortable. I’m not bitter. Who cares. Hope You Like It (Patrick: yikes, I do not).
Liturgy - Aesthethica
Andy: The brains behind Liturgy, singer, songwriter, guitarist Haela Ravenna Hunt-Hendrix is interesting, to say the least. She is the descendant of an oil tycoon family - her Uncle started the Kansas City Chiefs (Patrick: Go Birds) and her cousin is currently CEO (he also was a founding investor-owner in the MLS and still runs FC Dallas). The rest of her family seems to be in the academia and political worlds while Hunt-Hendrix just wanted to shred, man.
She wrote a philosophical treatise (haven’t we all) called "Transcendental Black Metal: A Vision of Apocalyptic Humanism" (Patrick: Andy texted me the phrase “black metal philosophical treatise” so many times this week). It argues that black metal can be a tool for spiritual transcendence and human liberation and that the focus on darkness and anti-humanism in black metal is actually a form of transcendentalism. Hunt-Hendrix proposes a new form of black metal called "transcendental black metal" that incorporates elements of classical music, post-punk, and other genres. The treatise also touches on themes of gender, race, and politics, and proposes a vision of "apocalyptic humanism" that seeks to overthrow ‘oppressive’ structures and replace them with a new, liberated humanism grounded in transcendence and spirituality.
Got it? No? It’s okay. It doesn’t actually matter. It's all very silly! Black metal doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom and can be sunshine and rainbows also.
Aesthethica is a great album. Without being too much of A Lame, it is in that sphere of “optimistic black metal” that so few things do properly. It’s good. Enjoy the music and ignore the condescending, theological droll that I spent a whole paragraph on (Patrick: actually seems interesting to me/differentiates it from black metal by dudes burning down churches, but okay!) (Andy: it is but you were so mean to me in texts about it). Hope You Like It.
Patrick: I see this came out in 2011, when I was 22, and kind of in the peak of my “checking out new metal releases” phase that didn’t last very long (Andy: really sad for you but you’re lucky I’m here). I don’t know how I missed this one but I guess I did. The artwork is certainly familiar but, upon hearing this, it definitely sounded “new” to my ears.
I liked it! I wasn’t quite as blown away as some other black metal editions of this newsletter in the past (Wake/Toadeater/etc.), but it was good! The thing that differentiates it from other black metal I’ve heard, through this newsletter or otherwise, is the repetition. That seems silly, on paper, since repetition is kind of the thing for black metal. But, man, they really sink into some repetitive grooves here. Almost all of the songs on the album feature like two or three minutes of “traditional black metal structure” (lol) and then like four minutes of trance-like grooves with repeating guitar riffs, no vocals, and often just a kick drum with steady quarter-note beats. On some songs, “Generation” and “Sun of Light” for instance, don’t really work for me in this regard, but on “True Will” and “Glory Bronze” it really, really works. The little groove in the midway part of “Glory Bronze,” about three to four minutes into the song, is the high point of the album for me. Especially when Hunt-Hendrix’s vocals kick in. My main quip is that for such a strong vocalist, I wish there were more vocals. But overall I liked this album quite a bit. Maybe “respect it” more than “like it” but I feel like it’s one I’ll go back to at least a few more times.
The Replacements - Let It Be
Patrick: “Look me in the eyes and tell me that I’m satisfied.” Phew. Let’s start cooking with gas, folks. I texted Andy if he had an album for this week where he had a band that he loved and then that led him to check out bands that influenced that first band and he came to realize he liked the earlier influential bands way more than the one he originally liked a lot. He said of course and then rattled off a bunch of bands that we have already covered in this newsletter lol. So, I decided to ignore him and run with this theme myself (Andy: he is so mean to me).
If Andy’s defining genre that he has a fandom of is metal, I would say mine is probably punk. I remember my dad frowning when I told him “Brain Stew” by Green Day was the first song I wanted to learn on the guitar that he and my mom saved up to buy me for the holidays when I was 11. I remember going to my first concerts by myself at the Grayslake Oasis - which is now apparently permanently closed WHAT THE FUCK - so I could see shitty teen punk bands and play in shitty teen punk bands and have the time of my life. I remember saying some dumb shit about how Black Flag’s Damaged changed my life the year I graduated high school and my dad remarking that he crossed paths with Henry Rollins on the street once and was surprised at how short ole Hank is (Google says he’s 5’9, the way my dad - who is 6’2 - tells this story is like Henry is 4’9). I also remember - at the time - being a huge fan of Against Me!’s New Wave and logging onto dialup internet to Google search “who are other bands like Against Me!” and clicking onto an Allmusic.com Related Artists tab and seeing The Replacements at the top of the “Influenced By” section and then torrenting The Replacements’ 1984 album Let It Be. I wonder if I’ve listened to New Wave in full more than twice since that day.
Let It Be is maybe the perfect album. “Unsatisfied” is maybe the perfect song. This is maybe The Most Punk a band has been. There is the famous story of how the band got banned from Saturday Night Live personally by Lorne Michaels in 1986 because they got too loaded during pre-rehearsals. Classic shit. I feel like there are a lot of examples of bands capturing that energy live but so few translate it to the records too. Maybe it’s the cost of how much money goes into making records or the idea that the live show was for raw energy and the album is for perfection but the Mats decided “nah, all energy, all the time” and that’s why they’re the best. Bob Stinson’s guitar part in “I Will Dare?” Paul Westerberg’s singing in “Androgynous?” The one single solitary snare crack from Chris Mars after the voicemail intro to “Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out?” I could live inside that snare crack. This is perfect music to me. Punk can be dumb and stupid and hilariously idiotic but it can also be revelatory. This album is all of those feelings smashed into one while also being incredibly good. Hope You Like It, It’s the Best Shit Ever and If You Don’t I’ll Be So, So, Unsatisfied.
Andy: Punk rock has always been about rejecting the status quo and embracing your own individuality. It is the “who gives a shit, let’s have fun” mentality that has always drawn me to the genre. Let It Be embodies that spirit perfectly. It's an album that doesn't take itself too seriously, but at the same time encompasses the Doing The Thing Your Own Way attitude. That is probably why there is a song on this album called "Gary's Got a Boner” otherwise, why are we singing about boners (Patrick: should more bands have songs about boners, the way you say more bands should have blast beats? i’ll take my answer off air)? I wonder how many songs have ever been written about boners.
I really enjoyed this album. There's something about the way this album blends punk rock with these little pop sensibilities that just works so well for me. Maybe it's the way they don't take themselves too seriously, or maybe it's just the raw energy that comes through, or maybe Pat has just weeded through all the shit and gives me the good stuff. Who truly knows?
Is this ‘punk’s best album’ (Patrick: too loaded of a question lol, what if I asked every week ‘is this metal’s best album?’)? I enjoy the genre but I don’t know if I’m educated enough to agree with Pat’s claim (Patrick: it’s a 5* for me but I don’t know if I myself actually believe this, top 10 for sure) so I am going to abstain from voting. It is certainly up there by my standards. I Loved It.