HYLI Vol. LXXXVI - The Ghost of a Thousand and Adam & The Ants
Andy sends Patrick some British post-hardcore and Patrick sends Andy some British post-punk. A real anglophile week.
Hey all, it is Andy here, who else! Did you all like Halloween? My wife loves it so much - so much more than any other holiday. I’ve worn a crab costume every year since like 2018 and she said I wasn’t allowed to wear it this year so I went as Luigi. I’m sunsetting my crab costume at the Protest The Hero show here in Orlando during their Halloween is Forever tour. Protest The Hero is a great band and I enjoy live music and can’t wait to see them. Haven’t seem them since the Fortress tour in NYC so its been a minute (Patrick: sounds fun hope you have fun my friend)!
The Ghost of a Thousand - This Is Where The Fight Begins
Andy: Since I’ve made Patrick listen to so much music he hasn’t enjoyed over the past few weeks, I figured I’d break the rules and throw him a bone. This isn’t metal, as outlined by our genre-identifying overlords, but it's heavy, angry and fun, so I'm picking it. The Ghost of a Thousand is late 2000s hardcore punk in the likes of Gallows, Blackhole and Cancer Bats and, imo, they are better than the last two. I know Patrick kinda likes this stuff so why not.
This kicked off a week of British hardcore for me. Such a great vibe those chaps (Patrick: *lads) had in the late 2000s. I’m sure kids over there are still killing it; I'm just out of the loop.
Tom Lacey is a great vocalist. He would be my favorite in that scene if Frank Carter wasn't an all-timer on the mic (Patrick: for like five seconds, soooo true). I love his screams on "Left for Dead." So raw. I love the soft singing sprinkled throughout the album - it really highlights his rough vocals and breaks up the angst.
This is simply a riff-heavy hardcore album with great melodies. I’m not sure there is a bad song here. The bridge of "As They Breed, They Swarm," my god. The drum lead-up in "Up to You." Honestly, the drums are the unsung hero here. If they don’t get your head banging you need to find some joy in your life. 10 songs under 30 minutes!
They have a second album, but Apple Music doesn’t have it because they're cowards, I guess. Anyway, I know Patrick will like it, so Glad You Liked It, You’re Welcome.
Patrick: Whoo boy, Andy really delivered here. The death metal month was good and fun but I was a bit burnt out and my guy came through and knocked it out of the park for me. Thank you, bestie (Andy: ily bud).
As Andy said, this kind of late-00s/early-10s post-hardcore is decidedly my thing. Especially when it’s done by them Brits. Gallows really nailed it on the first two records before they became terrible and, even though these guys aren’t active either, this is the first time I’ve felt that itch scratched in a bit.
“Married to the Sidewalk” fucking rules. Insanely fun riff to begin the song. Simple but sick, as most the best riffs are. Andy is right the drums really make it. When the verse kicks in and he kinda goes into the half-time beat with the ride cymbal, brother, THANK YOU. The closer that has a really long title I won’t be typing out sounds like if the Refused album didn’t age like hot milk. The riff in “New Toy,” as well as the talk-singing thing dude does in the verse, kinda reminds me of the best of Thursday. I’m all about this. Probably top 5 for this whole HYLI experiment. Thanks Andy I am rejuvenated and ready for another 86 volumes of this newsletter (Andy: lets go, get it my guy).
Adam and the Ants - Dirk Wears White Sox
Patrick: Here’s the thing, I love the instrument known as the electric guitar. A guy who is good at the electric guitar? That would be Jonathan Frusciante. Personally, I hated his band for a long ass time but in the last year I started to warm up to them. Primarily due to, predictably, his guitar playing on the last two RHCP albums that came out last year and also on By the Way. So I was reading some … sigh … guitar interviews with that guy and he kept honking on and on about some guy named Matthew Ashman. Turns out ole Matt plays guitar on the first Adam and the Ants record and then he peaced out to form a band called Bow Wow Wow (Andy: dude loves bands with shit names it seems), so I listened to one and only one Adam and the Ants record and, guess what, it’s this one and it rocks.
This guy is so good at guitar. The influence on Frusciante immediately becomes clear: so many of his trademark chord voicings and inversions and little riffs pop up here. “Car Trouble (Parts 1 & 2)” sounds so much like what Frusciante tried to steer RHCP towards when they aren’t doing humpty dumpty california bippity bop stuff. It feels a little weird to be going on and on about a guy not named Adam Ant on an Adam and the Ants record. Adam is great! I love the vocals on “Nine Plan Failed” and “Family of Noise.” The former is so aggressively British punk and the latter is so aggressively Bowie. All things I like! I have no desire to explore this band any further but in the 9 months or so since I’ve discovered this record, I listened about once every week or two. I hope Andy likes it, he’s a little goofball and this is a goofy record.
Andy: When Patrick gave me this album, I had an immediate sense of dread. Everything about it at first glance seemed bad: the name, the title, the album art. I expected, you guessed it, a bad time. Per usual, I was wrong (Patrick: per fucking USUAL). It is not bad music, despite everything else being bad. It is fun and good music, and Patrick knew I would like it (Patrick: I did).
This record is wacky and weird in the best way and seems very Talking Heads-inspired (Patrick: I don’t really agree but I’m picking up what you’re putting down). Quirky vocals, chaotic drums, and unusual arrangements make up most songs. It wavers between pretentious and downright goofy - which is a great line to walk. I wouldn't be surprised if Serj from System of a Down is a big fan of this album (Patrick: I would be surprised lol); I feel like some of the vocal execution comes from the same artistic place.
The whole thing is just kind of this happy, dumb, goofy stew of guitar twangs, weird lyrics, and catchy melodies. I'm here for it. I don't think I enjoyed it quite as much as the Talking Heads post-punk we've covered in the past, but I'm very here for this. I love the weird bouncy bass noise on "The Idea." I love the drums on "Cartrouble." The lyrics stink, but we all know the rule by now.
I Really Enjoyed It.